Deep in the Kumungu
by AnonymousFireTruck
Summary: At long last, Rengar gets the chance to claim his missing trophy. Alliances and Friendships are made when something new threatens the jungle. I'm terrible with summaries so I'll just leave it at that. Rated M for violence, and gore-ish. Adult themes are suggestive only, no lemons. Riot owns all characters (and skins).
1. Resolution

**A/N: I use italics for Rengar's thoughts, though not all of them are. It should be obvious which are and which aren't.** ** _Psst these first 4 lines are not._**

* * *

 _Bump._

 _Bump._

 _Bump._

 _Ba-bump._

Rengar eyed his prey from the branch of a large tree nearby. The deer had been grazing on some fruit that had dropped to the ground. Rengar could hear its heartbeat suddenly quicken slightly as it raised its head and looked around, as if sensing danger nearby. Rengar moved into position ever so slightly, and with a quiet push with his hind legs, he leapt down at the deer. It couldn't even make a sound before Rengar drove his knife through its neck. The deer collapsed under Rengar's weight as it gurgled blood, spasmed and died. Rengar stood up and looked at his prey with indifference; it had been so long since he's had a proper hunt. Rengar had already killed every creature worth a damn in this jungle, now all he does is hunt for food. However much he wishes, he can't hunt for fun anymore. His trophy wall was completely full, except for one open space where he reserved for the head of the one creature he still needs to kill.

As he gave a deep sigh, he could feel the ambience of the jungle. Warm breeze blowing through his fur, blowing the scent of flowers and trees to his nose, where it mixed with the scent of blood. He heard the chirping of birds and the buzzing of insects as well as the rustling of the trees in the wind. As he reached down to grab the deer by the antlers, he froze. Something felt wrong to him. He stood up and looked around trying to figure out what it was. Everything was normal, the breeze, the birdsongs, the rustling, the insects…

 _The buzzing…_

He widened his eyes as he realised. The buzzing didn't come from all around him. It came from behind him… and it was getting louder. In a flash he whipped around, raising his knife and arm-blades, crossed, in front of him. He felt a force land on his blades but there was nothing in front of him. Moments later, the air in front of him shimmered as bits of purple and green started appearing. Now he could see his attacker, with its scythe-like appendages pushing firmly on his blades, hissing and glaring with murder in its eyes. Rengar grinned savagely as he pushed Kha'Zix away.

 _At last._

As the two predators watched each other with weapons raised, they slowly circled around each other. Kha'Zix made the first move and shimmered away again. Rengar closed his good eye and looked through his false eye. The false eye that had replaced the eye that this creature took from him so long ago, was now the thing that gave him the advantage. He held the grin on his face as he himself shimmered away. Kha'Zix wasn't the only one with active camouflage, but now he can see Kha'Zix, but Kha'Zix cannot see him. He watched Kha'Zix stop and look around somewhat frantically for the invisible Rengar, as he stalked towards it quietly. Kha'Zix knew that Rengar's senses were sharper than his so he was just a sitting duck blind on the ground. He opened his wings and began to fly into the air to evade any attacks. Rengar saw this and before Kha'Zix could get any higher than five feet off the ground, he threw his bola straight at him. Kha'Zix didn't notice the bola flying towards him in time as it wrapped around his body and wings and with a screech he fell to the ground with a thump. Rengar pounced towards the fallen Void creature and as he brought his knife down towards him, Kha'Zix quickly cut the bola with his sharp claws and upon freeing himself, he barely leapt away in time. Rengar's blade grazed his leg which was now beginning to drip with green blood. A drop of that blood slid down the knife as Rengar stood up revealing himself and grinning. Kha'Zix screeched at Rengar again and flared his wings in an act of intimidation. He camouflaged himself again but this time Rengar didn't even need to use his false eye. The blood dripping down Kha'Zix's leg revealed his position but it didn't move away like he expected. Kha'Zix rushed towards Rengar with claws up as he realised that subterfuge wouldn't work. He lashed out with his claws attempting to slash Rengar in any way possible. Rengar had good reflexes and deflected a lot of the blows but he couldn't stop all of them. His adrenaline was running high and he barely felt the sting from the cuts that he did receive. He began to pressure Kha'Zix back, making precision strikes with his blades.

 _This._

 _Is what I've been waiting for._

Blades met with claws, as loud clanging sounds rang through the jungle.

 _This time._

 _This time I WILL have your head!_

They both received quite minor wounds, just cuts and small gashes here and there. Nothing too serious. The skirmish went on for quite some time, when the fight began, the sun was high in the sky, but as they stopped briefly, breathing heavily from exertion, the sun has almost set and the sky glowed crimson as it reached twilight.

Neither side backed down, for they both knew this is a fight to the death. This is something that they both wanted. The predator against the one prey who managed to escape him and the killer against the one creature whom he couldn't kill.

They once again engaged each other, as blades clashed with claws. This fight didn't seem to go anywhere. The most either side have received were some cuts or minor wounds. Rengar's adrenaline rush prevented him from feeling any of the pain or exhaustion and Kha'Zix was a Void creature. He wasn't even sure if Kha'Zix _could_ get tired. He swung at Kha'Zix's head, but the Void creature ducked beneath it and swung his claw up. Rengar caught the claw between his arm-blades and keeping that claw down, he swung his arm back around attempting to stab Kha'Zix in the head, only to be met by his other claw. They stayed in that position for some time, as both sides tried to push through the blocks and stab the other. Rengar was physically stronger than Kha'Zix so upon realising that he was going to lose the contest of strength, Kha'Zix disengaged and flew backwards and disappeared.

The sun has completely set now and darkness fell upon the jungle. Rengar relied on his false eye along with his other senses to gauge Kha'Zix's position. He assumed that Kha'Zix wasn't blinded by the darkness given that he originated from the Void. So with blades up in a battle stance, Rengar watched his surroundings. Hearing a slight whistling sound behind him, he immediately turned around and cut through the air. The bone spikes aimed at him all clattered harmlessly onto the ground. Before the last of those projectiles hit the ground, however, a new volley was launched and Rengar leapt backwards to dodge them. Before he even landed, more of these spikes flew towards his destination, and realising he couldn't dodge these, he swept with his blades and blocked all but two of them. One of the spikes hit his shoulder, but his shoulder guard protected him, however the other buried itself into the meat of his thigh. He fell on one knee as he reached down and yanked the spike out, now dripping with blood. Before he could even have a moments rest, yet another volley was launched. Rengar leapt away in the nick of time as the ground where he was moments ago, was littered with dozens of spikes. Falling onto one knee once more, he camouflaged himself. This will grant him a moment of respite as he gauged the position of the Void creature. The creature wasn't hard to find given that his false eye could read body heat. He saw a field of orange and where Kha'Zix was, he saw a silhouette of blue.

 _Cold-blooded. How fitting._

All this time, he held that same toothy grin on his face, the exhilaration of a worthwhile hunt satisfied him especially after such a long period of boredom. He stalked slowly towards Kha'Zix who was looking around confused trying to find him.

 _It's time._

 _Let's end this!_

As Rengar leapt from Kha'Zix's left side, he brought his knife arcing down. Kha'Zix had heard the slight rustling of leaves as Rengar jumped and, reacting in time, he swung both of his claws around catching the knife. Rengar directed his knife downwards but Kha'Zix's swing was directed outwards. It forced the knife to miss its mark as his arm swung too wide. It was embedded into the ground and before he could amend his mistake, Kha'Zix had fired a bone spike right at his heart. He barely moved far enough to dodge a fatal blow as the spike punctured his right lung. He backed away immediately leaving his knife in the ground and brought his other hand across to remove the spike. That was the opportunity that Kha'Zix had waited for all this time. With one arm occupied and the other with no means to block his attack, Kha'Zix darted forward with blinding speed and thrusted his claws forward viciously. Rengar could feel something sharp digging into his abdomen but his adrenaline blocked the pain. As both of their camouflages dissipated, Kha'Zix stared triumphantly at a snarling Rengar.

Kha'Zix reared his head and started to laugh in its monstrous manner, something so horrific it couldn't be described. It's laughter however, was cut short as he felt something covering his face. He realised it was Rengar's hand and through the fingers he saw Rengar's dark murderous grin and blood-soaked fangs. That was the moment when his laughter died, and was replaced with desperation and fear. Kha'Zix forced his claws deeper into Rengar's body, but the hunter didn't seem to notice at all. At that moment, all Rengar could see was his prey finally about to become a trophy on his wall.

 _I win._

He gripped Kha'Zix's face tighter as he swung his other arm over. The arm-blades connected with Kha'Zix's neck. In pain Kha'Zix screeched bloody murder and pulled his claws out from Rengar's torso and swung them wildly. Rengar received more lacerations on his chest, legs and arms but before any more serious damage could be dealt, he pushed his arm-blades deeper. Finally, as it cut through the spinal cord, Kha'Zix's appendages stopped swinging. He fell limp as Rengar finished cutting his head off.

 _Finally…_

As Rengar held Kha'Zix's head by the antennae, he trudged over to pick up and sheath his knife. He was aware of a wound in his midsection, but from the lack of pain he didn't realise how serious it was. He began to trudge slowly back towards his den, limping, with one hand holding Kha'Zix's head and the other holding his wound. It didn't do much as blood still flowed freely through his fur and fingers and as he walked, he left a trail of blood.

As his adrenaline began to subside, the pain and exhaustion began to hit him. The punctured lung finally took its toll as well. Pain wracked his body with every step; he was wheezing as he tried his best to breathe but it was very laboured. As the extent of his injuries dawned on him, he powered through it as much as he could, stumbling forward step by step.

 _Not… yet…_

His vision began to blur as the blood loss has reached his head. He felt light-headed, but he still persisted. He felt his muscles weakening and after taking a few more steps, he could no longer muster the energy to move. He fell forward as darkness clouded his vision and awaited his death.

 _I guess… that space… won't be filled… after… all…_

* * *

 **A/N: First fanfic after my 'test run' with _The War for Shurima_. Be kind, but criticisms and advice are appreciated too. Also to allay any surprises or confusion later on, I'll say that Teemo is the main antagonist along with Morgana and Tristana. And yes they will be depicted in their halloween skins, (Little Devil Teemo, Bewitching Morgana, Bewitching Tristana), I don't intend for Teemo to be a joke villain, but it'll be hard given how cute that skin is :3 (Splash only. The in game model is creepy af) **

**Hope you enjoyed it thus far! ^-^**

 **P.S. Yes I meant it when I said, there will be no lemons. If you're after lemons there are plenty of other stories to read, of which none will be mine.**


	2. Salvation

_Yawn_

It was bright early morning as Nidalee woke up. She was in her cougar form because she enjoyed sleeping together with her cougar family. It was cosy and warm and a human sleeping next to cougars would've just been weird. She stretched her paws out in front of her as she gave another yawn and got up. She turned back into a human and went to brush her teeth as the rest of her family slowly woke up as well. As the old saying goes: 'old habits die hard' and as such Nidalee kept to brushing her teeth even after she was taken in by the cougars after her birth parents' unfortunate deaths. She even went so far as to make new brushes out of thin twine. Brush is a rather loose term, they looked more like balls of knitted twine which she used to clean her teeth with like a sponge of sorts. She even started to help her cougar family with oral hygiene too and made a teeth cleaner for each of them.

After all the morning cleaning was finished, a cougar cub walked up and started scratching his back against Nidalee's leg. He looked up at Nidalee's and purred with a hopeful look in its eyes.

"I know, I'm hungry too. When we come back from our morning hunt we'll have plenty of food for everyone!" replied Nidalee.

Satisfied, the baby cougar strolled back to its small bed and plopped right back to sleep. Their den wasn't extremely spacious, but it was adequate. There was enough room to shelter all three cubs as well as Nidalee and the other four adult cougars. There was also a makeshift bed which was just a giant pile of dried grass and leaves covered with a piece of animal hide. It used to belong to a giant grizzly bear that Nidalee hunted down. They had eaten the meat but she skinned the bear carefully and now the black fur lay over a pile of straw and leaves. Despite what it was made of it was surprisingly comfortable, but Nidalee never slept on it. She much preferred the smaller circular cushions which the other cougars were sleeping on. These were covered with the deer pelt.

Nidalee liked to hunt as a cougar but today she felt like picking her javelin back up. It's been quite a while since she last slew a beast with a javelin and not her teeth and claws so she figured she would keep her skills sharp. Nidalee and the four cougars all set off in different directions and as per usual each of them was to bring back a prey of their own. Sometimes there just simply weren't enough prey around so some of them returned empty-pawed but usually the food was plenty anyway.

As Nidalee stalked through the jungle looking for prey, she hid in bushes and on trees. She loved the atmosphere of the jungle; breeze feeling warm blowing against her skin, sunlight scattering down through the canopy of the trees, birds singing their songs and insects buzzing as they flew around. It was a wonderful feeling and she could've slept in the foliage all day under the light of the warm sun, had she not had a job to do.

A couple of hours passed and she still hadn't found any prey. She was frustrated but she accepted that this was going to be one of those slow days.

 _Where is all the food?_

Another hour passed and all she had managed to find were some rabbits. It wasn't much but it was enough she thought.

 _At least it's something..._

As she headed back to the den, feeling a little sad about the lack of food she had obtained, she came across an adult deer near a stream, with its head down sipping the water. She smiled gleefully as she dropped the rabbits and sneaked behind a tree overlooking the stream. It was the perfect position, behind a tree in the blindspot of the prey. As she raised her javelin in a throwing stance, she closed one eye and aimed carefully. She noted the wind blowing southward which meant that none of her scent could possibly make its way to the deer. She tensed her muscles as she threw the javelin silently towards the deer's side. However, before the javelin could land, the deer raised its head suddenly, looking northward and immediately bolted away as if startled by something.

 _Shit! How?! It couldn't possibly know I was here!_

Now even more frustrated she went to retrieve her javelin. She would've turned into a cougar and chased the deer but it was already noon and the cubs are still waiting. She grumbled in irritation as she picked up her javelin. As she turned to head back to the den, she stopped midstep as she realised what had startled the deer. She stared northward, the direction which the breeze was coming from with a look of concern and confusion on her face. She recognised this smell, it was the smell of...

 _Blood! And a lot of it! This isn't the blood of any beast I know... What the hell happened?_

Curious and worried at the same time, she went and followed the scent. It wasn't long before she found a trail of blood which was also accompanied by some odd green liquid to the right as well. Before she started following the trail again, she gave out a long sharp whistle. It was a signal akin to a distress call, upon hearing it any adult cougar must follow the sound and help whoever was in trouble. Since cougars can't whistle, their call was just a high-pitched cry, so when they hear an actual whistle they know exactly who was in distress.

Confident that the whistle was long and loud enough for her family to find her, she began to move down the trail. Slowly she stalked silently, cautious that whatever beast did this may still be around. A few minutes of moving later she discovered the source of the blood.

 _Oh my god..._

She gasped at what she saw. It was a giant white-furred humanoid lion covered in streaks of red, lying facedown in a pool of blood but still holding onto that looks to be the head of a giant insect. She moved quickly to the body and immediately placed her fingers to his neck to check for a pulse. She was worried because she couldn't feel anything for a second but then the faintest of pulses hit her finger.

 _Oh he's still alive but barely..._

She rolled Rengar over to find out where the blood was coming from. He was heavy but considerably lighter now with the lack of blood left in his body. She had a sharp intake of breath as she saw the two giant stab wounds in his midsection, they were very deep and she was amazed that he was still alive after losing all of that blood. The fur around the wounds were all stained a deep crimson and his breathing was very erratic and shallow. Kneeling, she placed her hands over the wounds and began to channel her magic. She wasn't the best in healing magic but it had been sufficient for her and the cougars so she prayed that it would be enough now. She hoped that at the very least it should ease the pain a little.

As she concentrated on her magic, the other cougars arrived and one immediately cried urgently.

"No, I'm fine! It's him!" she answered as she tilted her head in Rengar's direction. "Help me carry him back to the den, we have to help him!"

The cougar growled and gave a small snarl in response.

"Yes, I know who he is!" Nidalee snapped, "but he also protects this jungle from unwanted predators and explorers! We need him!"

The cougar had a reluctant but conceding look on its face and it moved over to help carry the Pridestalker. The cougars stood next to each other and Nidalee hoisted Rengar onto their backs with some effort. Nidalee turned into a cougar herself and picking up the insect head with her teeth, she went to support Rengar's legs as the five cougars headed back to the den.

Nidalee's magic had stemmed the bleeding for the time being, not that there was much left to come out anyway. They returned to the den as fast as they could and the young ones were happy at first until they saw what was on their backs. As they hurried over, Nidalee morphed back into a human and pulled Rengar onto the bed. She immediately removed his armour and began channeling her magic to try and heal the wounds.

The other cougars all watched her with a worried expression, but she told them to go eat.

"The young ones are hungry, no?" she urged.

As the hours passed, night began to fall. The adult cougars returned from their dinner hunt and brought back three large deers. Everybody ate while Nidalee continued to channel her magic. The cougars were all worried because Nidalee hadn't eaten anything so one of them brought her some meat and poked her with a paw and purred.

"I'll eat when he's stabilised." she replied. The cougars continued to watch with worried expressions as Nidalee worked her magic. A green glow emanated from the palm of her hands and shone onto Rengar's wounds. The flesh ever so slowly grew and knit together; it was a slow process.

Some time late into the night, Rengar's breathing slowed and eased to a point which Nidalee was satisfied with. Confident that Rengar wouldn't die during the night, she stopped her magic and turned to eat the food. All of the cougars breathed a sigh of relief as Nidalee finally ate something for the first time that day.

Every day after that, she stayed at the den while the others went to hunt. Rengar had so many lacerations, it never failed to surprise Nidalee how someone was able to survive all of these wounds. The small cuts were easy to heal as they closed quickly. The slightly deeper cuts were also quite easy to knit together. The problems were the stab wounds. It was hard to repair organs as well as the flesh. She tried her best but she never had to use her healing magic as the cougar family was basically the top of the food chain in this area of the jungle, as such she wasn't particularly well-versed in the art of healing.

She would stay with Rengar from sunrise to sunset. The wounds slowly started disappearing as she healed them one at a time. This went on for about a week and a half before finally all of the wounds were closed except for the two large ones in his abdomen. The wound openings were too large to close with her current level of healing magic. The organs took the most time but she managed to fix them up, the muscles were hard to knit too as they grew in such an intertwining fashion that it was hard to replicate. In desperation she resorted to her final option.

Her human parents had always insisted on her learning first aid. "It'll help you!" they said, "It'll save your life!" they said. "You'll thank us in the future!" they said. She hated every single second of those lessons, they felt boring and tedious. Well right now she _was_ thankful. She dug through all of her belongings from pre-cougar life until she found what she was looking for. A stitching kit. Threading the needle with ease, she began to stitch Rengar's wounds together and waited for him to recover naturally. Once fully stitched she was finally able to clean his fur from the blood stains. It took a while to wash the blood out but after a while she managed to restore the original white colour of the fur. In order to avoid infections she bandaged Rengar up as soon as his fur was cleaned and dried.

Rengar's breathing was no longer pained or laboured, and most of the wounds have healed. Other than changing the bandages every now and then, it was a waiting game.

"C'mon big guy, we both know you're too proud to die from this. Besides you've still got a job to do" she whispered as she glanced over at the giant insect head lying in the corner.


	3. Promise

Two weeks have passed since Nidalee had found Rengar and brought him back to her den. She had done all she could to heal his wounds, but he had lost so much blood that it would take a while for him to recover. The two large stab wounds were stitched up somewhat crudely but it was sufficient. They had begun to heal, although the wound was still raw. The lack of blood certainly hindered the healing. Now his breathing was regular and no longer raspy; the punctured lung had healed cleanly. It was difficult to force food in him so they just fed him stew. Thankfully, it wasn't met with much resistance as natural reactions forced him to swallow.

As Nidalee sat cross-legged on the ground next to the bed, Rengar could feel his consciousness returning. He felt the pain before anything else though; it was a dull pulsating pain coming from his abdomen.

 _Pain… Either I'm still alive or I'm in Hell…_

He groaned a bit as he opened his eyes. His vision was still fuzzy and blurry, but as it came into focus the first thing he noticed was that he was in alien territory. He felt a slight panic as he tried to sit up. Immediately the dull pain turned into a sharp excruciating pain shooting through his entire body. Grimacing, with teeth clenched, he pushed through the pain. His right hand instinctively moved to hold his wound but he found bandages where he expected fur.

Nidalee had heard a small groan beside her as she stood up to find Rengar shifting in the bed. She was fully relieved when she saw him open his eyes and attempt to sit up, but the effort seemed to pain him so she suggested, "You shouldn't do that! The stitches might tear!"

Rengar pushed himself up with the elbow that he was supporting himself with and swung his legs over the bed as he sat, still holding his wound. The pain was still there but the intensity died down as soon as he stopped moving. He saw Nidalee standing in front of him but it was still hazy. His vision kept blurring and there was still the feeling of light-headedness in his head.

"Where is the head?" He asked brusquely.

"I'll tell you when you've fully rested." Replied Nidalee with a tone of finality. Either Rengar missed it or he ignored it because he growled at that reply.

"I've rested enough now tell me where it is!" There was a hint of anger in his words as he tried to stand up. It was painful, and his muscles felt weak, but he managed somehow.

"Stop that! You still need t-"

"What I need, is for you to answer my question." The anger was apparent in his interruption.

"No." was her reply. She had her arms crossed across her chest and stared at him with defiance. She tried to hide her fear because despite his condition, his eyes just seemed so… cold.

At that Rengar's anger peaked as he turned to face her. He glared at her for a brief second and took a step towards her. His face once again grimaced with pain as he suddenly dropped to one knee. He moved his hand away from his wound and found it stained in a sticky red liquid. The pain was overwhelming now, it felt like being stabbed repeatedly by a jagged knife. His vision blurred as he collapsed onto his side.

"You fool! I warned you! Argh, it's like you're too proud to even accept help!" She scolded. She hurriedly hoisted him up back onto the bed. His teeth were clenched and he still had a pained expression on his face. She figured that he was still conscious since he's in pain so she immediately removed the now blood-soaked bandages and inspected the wounds. His movements have torn the stitches and reopened both of the wounds, it wasn't pretty. She wasn't entirely sure what to do with the stitches, her lessons never covered what to do if stitches were torn. Her parents had died before they could teach her that.

"Okay, okay, okay. Just pull the stitches out and then stitch him back up, right?" She mumbled to herself. "Oh, this is gonna hurt. Brace yourself big guy." She wished that he was unconscious before doing what she was about to do but she couldn't wait and neither could he. The wounds were open and blood is spilling out. She took a deep breath as she grabbed one loose end of the stitch and pulled. Rengar's face contorted in pain as he tried to bear the pain, but soon it was too much and he let out a loud roar. Nidalee was stunned for a second but she pressed on. As the last of the stitches came out of his flesh, he seemed to breathe a bit easier, but the pain was still apparent on his face.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, she retrieved her stitching kit and prepared herself. This was the hardest part especially since Rengar is still awake. The roar seemed to have helped though, she could feel his heart beating faster. If adrenaline is being released, then that would help with the pain she thought. Before she began the stitching, she went and twisted up a piece of cloth for Rengar to bite down on.

"Stop… I don- nngh… I don't need your help…" protested Rengar, weakly.

"Will you just swallow your pride for one second? I'm trying to keep you alive here. Now shut up and bite the rag." She said sternly. With a moment of hesitation, Rengar reluctantly opened his mouth and she placed the rag in. Biting down, he braced himself for what's to come.

"Here we go… you ready?" Asked Nidalee, and taking the slight nod as her cue, she started stitching. She channeled her magic as well in the process to alleviate as much pain as possible, but it was obvious how much effort it was taking Rengar to stop his whole body from convulsing in agony.

By the end of the operation, Rengar had passed out from the exhaustion and Nidalee cleaned his wounds and bandaged them once again. This time Rengar stayed unconscious for another week, and the wounds have healed quite well. They were by no means completely healed, but with the help of her healing magic, the wounds healed faster than normal.

It was a couple of hours past noon and once again, Rengar opened his eyes to find himself lying in an unfamiliar room, but this time he knew who it belonged to. There was still some pain but it wasn't intense enough to be anything more than an inconvenience to him. He tried sitting up again, and this time found it easier and less painful.

"Your wounds are healing nicely, so avoid any sudden movements or physical exertion for another couple of weeks and they should heal completely."

Rengar still had a pained expression on his face, but this wasn't because of his wound. He felt ashamed that he needed someone else's help. Not only that, she had saved his life and he couldn't understand why. He had been alone for so long, it was hard to accept anybody's help. He relied on no-one except himself and now he was confused.

"So…" Nidalee began, but Rengar interrupted her again.

"Where's the head?"

"A 'hello', would've been nice. Or you know, a 'thank you' would've worked as well." Replied Nidalee with a sarcastic grin.

"Don't test me cougar. I asked out of respect for you as a hunter, do not make me use more violent methods. I've been dying to find more challenging prey." Growled Rengar angrily, eyes glaring at Nidalee, who was now also fuming.

"Oh you've been dying alright! I'm the only reason why you aren't rotting in the ground right now!"

"I never asked for your help…" replied Rengar, as he averted his gaze, looking somewhat ashamed.

"Oh I see… If it makes you feel any better, I didn't save you for you. I did it for the jungle. Explorers and poachers avoid this jungle partly because of their fear for you, if I had let you die, this jungle would've been overrun by them. Now, I know you have a lot of questions so ask away. Oh and the insect head is in the corner over there, you were holding onto it tightly when I found you so I assumed it was important to you."

Rengar looked over to where she was pointing for confirmation and upon seeing Kha'Zix's head he turned back to her and asked, "So where am I?"

"Shouldn't it be obvious? You're in my den."

"How did you get me here all the way from my territory? Why were you even in my territory to begin with?"

"What are you talking about? Your blood trail began and ended in my territory, so I brought you here with the help of the other cougars."

 _The blood loss must've disorientated me. It seems the battled moved us farther than I thought._

"Where's my armour?"

"Over there." She said, pointing at the pieces of armour lying on the ground beside the wall. "I took the liberty of cleaning and mending them too because waiting for you to wake up got boring at some point."

"How long have I been unconscious?"

"Since the last time you woke up? A week. In total? Three weeks."

 _Three weeks? She cared for me for three weeks?_

"…Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why save me?"

"I've already told you. The jung-"

"No, what's the real reason?"

Nidalee seemed taken aback by this question. Was there another reason why she had saved him? She didn't think it was purely for keeping explorers and poachers away… She felt like there was something more but she didn't know what. After a brief moment of deliberation, she answered, "That is the real reason."

Rengar could tell that she was thinking of something else, but he didn't press her. By now the other cougars have also come and stared at them. The younger ones seemed cautious and stayed behind the adults. They watched vigilantly, in case he would try anything untoward.

"Your family is worried for your safety. It's time I leave; I've been away from my den for too long." Said Rengar as he began to stand up.

Nidalee immediately put a hand on his shoulder to stop him and said, "No, you are staying right here where I can keep an eye on you. If I let you leave now, you'll probably go hunting and tear that wound open again."

She was very firm, but Rengar was determined. "I'll be fine." He growled. "My wounds have basically completely healed now."

"Oh really?" said Nidalee in a devious, high-pitched manner as she went and poked him lightly in his wound. He immediately winced and held his hand over the wound. He then growled and glared at Nidalee but she was unyielding.

Figuring that he wouldn't be able to convince her otherwise, he said, "At least let me take the head away. I don't think any of you would appreciate it staying here."

Thinking it over for a bit, Nidalee finally said, "Fine, but I'm coming with you. And when you're done, we're coming right back."

"Grrrr, fine" agreed Rengar, although very reluctantly.

"In the meantime though, you're probably famished. Come join us for dinner."

"I can get my own food." Insisted Rengar, but Nidalee was having none of it.

"Not in that condition you can't, will you just swallow your pride and let us help you? I get it. You're proud. You're a lone lion. You don't like company. But until you've fully recovered, you're stuck with us so get used to it."

"There's a reason why people call it a _pride_ of lions. I value my pride and honour above my life, I would've been glad to die there."

"Yeah, but you didn't. And can you really say that you'd be glad to die, knowing that you were so close to getting that last trophy? Everybody in the jungle knows how you've been gunning for that bug ever since it escaped you the first time. Would you really have been willing to die not being able to mount that trophy in your den?"

 _Damn her… She really knows how to push my buttons…_

Seeing Rengar's discomfort, Nidalee took it as a sign of victory and grinned. "It's settled then, let's eat!"

Grumbling, Rengar got to his feet and followed her. They sat around a fireplace, in an adjoining room, it was simple and a lot cleaner than his den. There were multiple rabbits being roasted above the fire, though some of the cougars were eating it raw. There were also two deer dead as well with scratch and bite marks all over. The killing blow seemed to be the bite to the necks.

 _Admittedly, these guys are quite effective hunters._

As they ate, one of the cougars watched Rengar very tentatively. He growled something at Nidalee but before she could reply, Rengar emitted a low threatening growl of his own.

"Do not question my honour cougar. You'd be dead right now, were it not for the debt I owed."

Seeing Rengar's expression, the cougar backed down and ate his food in silence.

"You can understand him?" inquired Nidalee.

"I'm part lion, of course I can understand, besides even if I didn't, it was clear from his tone." He replied.

She chuckled and carried on eating.

After they finished eating, Nidalee proceeded to wash the cougars' mouths. Rengar was amazed that she would have the cougars do these human cleansing rituals. He did them because that was how he was raised, and he figured the same for Nidalee, but he didn't expect the cougars to follow.

Once finished, she came back and said to Rengar, "We'll leave in the morning. You take the bed; I prefer to sleep with the other cougars anyway."

Nodding, Rengar crawled into bed. Every time he closed his eyes, he remembered the fights. The first one, when he lost an eye. Then the next one as Kha'Zix let out that unworldly laughter. It was a terrifying sound, but what Rengar relished was what had happened next. Despite the scythe-like claws inside him, he had cut that monster's head off. He was excited that tomorrow, he'd be able to finally fill that empty space. The excitement got to him though, he couldn't sleep at all. Frustrated, he got up and stalked out of the den. He was healed enough to move without waking the cougars, all except one.

He made his way through the jungle, following the sound of running water, not knowing that Nidalee had woken and was following him. Upon reaching the stream, he took a few gulps before sitting down on a large rock nearby. He liked to meditate, it was something his human father taught him to do. It was one of the few things he liked to do that wasn't violent. He liked to meditate especially by the water. For some reason, the sound of flowing water was very calming and relaxing to him.

After some time, he finally heard Nidalee walk up in human form. "I figured you'd be the one to notice."

"I thought you ran away." Stated Nidalee cautiously.

"I made a promise. I don't break promises. An old man once told me, 'Never make a promise you can't keep, but never break a promise once it's made'."

"Sounds like a wise man, how did you know him?"

"He was my adoptive father." Replied Rengar after a moment's thought.

Nidalee sat down next to Rengar and stared at the stream. It was beautifully clear, even under the moonlight, everything could be seen clearly. There was also a reflection of the moon in the water, though it was rippling. "Tell me about him."

Rengar didn't know why, but he felt like, in that peaceful moment, he could talk about his past. "I never knew my real parents. The farthest back I can remember, is being raised by that man. He was apparently a world renowned hunter and he taught me his ways. He used to stay in the jungle all the time, only going into the towns on special occasions. His favourite one used to be the Festival of Fire. He told me every year, a festival is held in this place called Ionia where people could cleanse themselves of their sins and worries. He didn't believe in those things though, he just liked the food. He never let me go though, he said that I would scare people which I suppose is true. He'd always bring me back some food though which I must admit weren't too bad despite not being meat." Nidalee chuckled at that, and he continued, "He told me that the night of the festival, there is something called a Blood Moon. It's not actually red, he said it was just a name given to that night because the very first time the festival was held, the moon was red. He told me that it had only been red one more time after that and all the other years, it was just a normal full moon. One day though, he left for the festival, but never came back… I always wondered what had happened to him… Perhaps one day, I'll find out."

"I… I'm sorry, I didn't know…" stuttered Nidalee. She hadn't wanted to bring up painful memories, but she regretted asking now as she watched a tear collecting in the corner of Rengar's eye.

 _Why did I just tell her all of that?_

"It's fine. It actually feels good to have said all of that, I've been alone for so long I guess I just pushed it to the back of my mind constantly."

Nidalee found herself leaning on Rengar's shoulder, the fur was soft and comfortable, and he didn't move away like she expected him to. She didn't complain though, as they just sat there watching the stream.

"Hey, Rengar… do you think we'll ever be able to go to that festival?"

"You, maybe. You still look human. I, on the other hand, probably not. They won't take kindly to a lion walking among them. To be honest though, I do want to see the festival for myself. I want to see what made my father leave every year and maybe discover what happened to him."

"Then it's settled. We'll go together some day." Said Nidalee as she drifted off to sleep, content.

Rengar was speechless, he stared at her sleeping face for a while and then looked up at the moon. "Together huh?" He whispered as he remembered something his father had said.

* * *

 _"Father, why do you always go to this Festival of Fire? It can't just be for the food can it?"_

 _"Why? Do you not like the food?"_

 _"No, no, I do, it's just that it doesn't seem like a reason for you to go every year, especially since I can't come with you..."_

 _His father let out a very hearty laugh and said, "I suppose it's true, it's not the only reason. Now listen here Rengo, this'll probably be the second most important lesson you'll ever learn. The reason why I go is not only because of the food but also because I owe someone there a great deal and a debt must_ always _be repaid. Now then what's the most important lesson?"_

 _"Never make a promise you can't keep, but never break a promise once it's made."_

 _"Very good, and now what's the second most important lesson?"_

 _"A debt must always be repaid."_

 _"Correct. Maybe next year though, we can go to the Festival together." It was the warmest smile that Rengar had seen in a long while._

 _"Together." Repeated Rengar as he watched his father leave for the festival._

 _He waited patiently, in the same place, but that was the year that his father left and didn't come back._

* * *

If he ever does go to the festival, he would find the person to whom his father owed a debt to and maybe finally find out what happened to him.

In the meantime, he got up and carried Nidalee back to the den and placed her on the bed. He went outside and gently climbed a tree and sitting on the tree branch, he leaned against the trunk and went to sleep.

 _A life debt then._

* * *

 **A/N: whew sorry this is such a long chapter. Didn't feel right to cut it anywhere earlier. Hope you enjoy it! ^-^**


	4. Enemies

**A/N: This isn't gonna be Christmassy at all, in fact it gets quite dark so given that it's Christmas, it may be a good idea to read in a few days time. I don't wanna ruin any festive spirits :) Merry Christmas Everyone!**

As the sun rose, Nidalee found herself waking in the bed. She wondered where Rengar was since she was in the bed and not him, but upon seeing his belongings still besides the wall, she relaxed and had faith that he didn't sneak away in the night. She yawned and stretched as she walked out of the room; the other cougars were all still asleep so she left them to their dreams. As she exited the den, the sun was bright in the sky and the early morning breeze had a crisp chill to them. She looked around but couldn't find Rengar, so she went to the stream and washed up. The water was cool and refreshing as she savoured the sweet natural taste of the water. Upon returning to the den, she saw Rengar walking back with what appears to be a buck slung over his shoulder. He was grinning as he walked up and seeing Nidalee, he raised a hand in greeting.

"Did you go hunting?!"

"Yeah, you were all asleep so I thought I may as well go get breakfast. Besides, I had to pay you guys back for the meal last night."

"I told you not to do physical activities! What if you had reopened your wounds again?" Her question carried a hint of worry as she scolded him.

"You don't need to worry about me. I was careful. I can take care of myself you know. All I did was trap it with my bola and then slew it. No strenuous activities whatsoever." He said nonchalantly.

Nidalee huffed but calmed down when she saw the bola still wrapped around the buck which seemed to confirm his story. "Fine, just be careful. We'll leave right after breakfast."

Rengar smiled as he walked over to the fireplace and set the buck down. He collected his bola and then proceeded to prepare breakfast. It wasn't anything special, just something he had learnt from his father. He cut the meat expertly and cooked them over the fire. He left some raw in case the cougars preferred it that way. His father used to put herbs and spices over the meat too, but it made no difference to him. Meat was meat and he didn't like the flavour the spices brought. The smell of cooked meat wafted through the air, and woke the cougars up. Smelling food, they immediately ran to the source of the smell. They were cautious as they saw Rengar cooking the meat, they didn't dare step forward for fear of his possessive nature over his prey. Rengar senses their displeasure as they turned to walk away, so he called to them, "This meat is yours. It's repayment for the meat you brought me last night."

Hearing this, the cougars turned and faced him. They were still skeptical and stepped closer cautiously to inspect the food. Rengar held a piece in front of him and offered it to the cougars. Taking a tiny bite, the cougar's face immediately lit up and started ravaging the meat. Seeing this, the other cougars followed suit and soon, they were all digging their faces into the food.

"They seem to like your cooking." Stated Nidalee as she walked up besides Rengar.

"I don't usually cook. It's just something my father thought I should learn to do. When I asked him why, he just said that I might need it someday. No idea what he meant, and I personally prefer raw meat, but… I guess this is growing on me."

"Well then let's see what all the fuss is about!" She said as she reached to grab a piece of meat. She had to admit, it was good. She liked it better cooked than raw so this was delicious to her. "Hey, this is really good! You should cook more often!"

"You can cook it yourself. After all you have the tools and I won't be staying for that much longer. See? It should heal in a few more days." He said as he pointed to his stitched wounds.

"I suppose so…" Said Nidalee. She was a little sad to hear that but she didn't know why. Did she want him to stay for longer? She couldn't tell.

 _Hmmm she suddenly looks a little sad. I wonder why…_

After all the food was eaten, leaving the skeleton of the buck behind, Rengar went to collect his belongings. He donned his armour once again and sheathed his hunting knife.

 _Ah it feels good to wear armour again._

He grabbed Kha'Zix's head by the antennae and stared at it. All the blood had drained out so it wasn't dripping, but more importantly it hadn't rotted. At all.

 _I guess not even bugs want to eat this…_

He walked out of the room and found Nidalee standing with her javelin in hand. She turned to him and asked, "You ready?"

"Let's go." He replied with a nod.

"Alright, you guys stay here, don't do anything stupid. We'll be back tomorrow." She said as she addressed the cougars.

The young cougars were jumping around the place playing with each other, and the adult cougars just sat there and watched the two of them disappear into the jungle.

The two of them walked for an hour before they reached Rengar's territory. It was marked by animal heads on spikes along the perimeter of his territory and they sent shivers down Nidalee's spine. It was hard for her to imagine that the one responsible for this horrific display could be as honourable as Rengar.

 _Home at last_

Rengar sped up as his excitement grew. He was in familiar terrain now and began to run back to his den. Nidalee could barely keep up with him, so she was forced to assume her cougar form to dash alongside him. Rengar prepared to sprint on all fours but Nidalee stopped in front of him and growled up to his face.

"Grrrr, fine. I get it. No heavy physical activities." He submitted to her demand and walked back at a brisk pace. Nidalee had turned back to her human form and walked besides him.

"You know. I've been meaning to ask... What happens to your spear when you turn into a cougar?"

"Okay first, it's a javelin, it's only really for attacking from range. And second, well, it's hard to explain. When I turn into a cougar, the javelin just sorta transforms with me. I don't fully understand it myself, but the javelin is connected to me magically, it's why it always returns back to me when I throw it."

"Wow, that's handy. Wish my bolas could do that."

Nidalee chuckled as they pushed past some bushes.

"Ah, here we are. My humble abode as my father calls it."

Nidalee was impressed. It wasn't like her den, which was essentially a large burrow in a hill, Rengar's home was an actual house! It was quite large too and despite its size, it was well hidden. The trees canopy completely obscures this place from the skies, the area is entirely surrounded by the undergrowth and tall bushes, and the house was well camouflaged with its roof made of branches and leaves and its walls made of logs. Rengar smiled as he presented his home to Nidalee, but immediately his expression turned stern as he said in a low voice, "You are the only other living being to set foot in this place other than my father, I trust that you won't disclose its location."

 _Why did I lead her here anyway? I could've just had her wait somewhere else._

"Of course, you have my word." Replied Nidalee, still marveling at his house.

"Before we go in, I'll just say that I have a lot of… trophies, so you can stay out here if you want to."

"I'll be fine." Insisted Nidalee.

As they walked in, Nidalee was immediately greeted by the dead lifeless eyes of all of Rengar's preys. All of their heads were mounted on all of the walls and ask they walked further in, she felt a little sick in her stomach. Seeing her discomfort, Rengar just chuckled as he walked over to the bedroom. The wall facing the bed had one empty space right in the middle, and standing in front of it, Rengar savoured the moment as he carefully mounted the head.

With his trophy collection completed at last, he relaxed and laid down on his bed with his hands behind his head. "I'm going to take a nap, you can explore the area a bit, but don't wander too far or you'll get lost." Warned Rengar.

Nidalee turned and exited the house and was glad to be outside. It was far too morbid inside for her liking. Walls filled with rows upon rows of heads, some looking more savage and dangerous than others, but all of them seemed like predators in their own rights. Nidalee wondered how Rengar had managed to kill all of these creatures and muttered to herself, "Just how powerful is he?"

Thankful for the fresh air, she turned into a cougar and went to explore the land. She first tried to find the stream because she was getting a little thirsty, he had mentioned that he liked to meditate by the water so there ought to be one nearby. She wandered a few minutes before finally hearing the sound of running water. Heading in that direction, she was met with a glistening stream that was as clear as the one back in near her den. She sat on the banks as she drank the water and stayed there for a while enjoying the atmosphere.

* * *

Two figures stared into their cauldrons as each of them swirled and displayed an image of Rengar's home. They were both female but one was incredibly short and the other had large bat wings protruding from her back. The bat lady had red hair and wore a pointy hate with a single green snake-eye in the middle. She adorned her fingers with many crimson rings and wore a fat dress which had purple smoke billowing out from underneath. The short girl was a white-furred yordle with blonde hair and had large fangs like a vampire. Her pupils were surrounded by green instead of white and she too wore a pointy hat, though it was slightly crumpled. Both of their cauldrons were spewing purple smoke as they watched and cackled in a high-pitched witch-like manner.

 _"He has once more returned to his nest,_

 _And he seems to have brought a female guest._

 _A live one too who hails from the west,_

 _Then the plan shall proceed at His behest._

 _The more the merrier, the more who'll die,_

 _And the more our Lord will rise up high._

 _With their deaths we'll call a Crimson Sky,_

 _And Praise to our Lord as the Blood Moon's nigh."_

Another shrieking cackle followed as they began their incantations.

 _*"Double double toil and trouble,_

 _Fire burn and cauldron bubble._

 _Fillet of a fenny snake,_

 _In the cauldron boil and bake._

 _Eye of newt and toe of frog,_

 _Wool of bat and tongue of dog,_

 _Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,_

 _Lizard's leg and howlet's wing,_

 _For a charm of powerful trouble,_

 _Like a hell-broth boil and bubble."*_

As they cast the spell, they cackled once more and a low voice echoed from behind them, "So it's begun."

* * *

Rengar was once again dreaming of his battle with Kha'Zix. As the scene played out he remembered saying 'I win' just before he cut Kha'Zix's head clean off. He enjoyed that dream, every time because it reminded him of the Thrill of the Hunt and his greatest achievement. As he woke up, he got up and walked to the opposite wall. He stood in front of Kha'Zix's head as he inspected his trophy. He was frowning because something was different.

 _Did I mount it like that? Something's wrong…_

Just as he thought that, he suddenly saw an eye twitch. He was shocked as he watched the head come to life, antennae now flailing this way and that as the murderous green eyes shot up and stared him.

 _What. The. Fuck. What? I can't move!_

He tried with all his strength, but his muscles didn't obey. Something had paralyzed him and he watched in horror as Kha'Zix slowly emerged from the wall, dragging the rest of its body out from inside the wood. Still frozen, he heard that hideous laughter again, as he felt a cold sharp object running up his abdomen. The tip rested at the same place as his wound, and Kha'Zix slowly pushed. Rengar felt the claw pierce his skin and slide deeper and deeper inside. Blood rushed to his mouth as each nick in the claw cause shots of pain throughout his body. Soon the claw reached his back and with a forceful push, Kha'Zix thrusted his claw through Rengar's entire body, which caused him to splurt blood through his mouth. Kha'Zix brought his other claw up to Rengar's neck and staring him down, he hissed, " _I win!"_ and with eyes wide in shock, he watched as Kha'Zix swung his claw around and cleaved his head completely off of his body, all the while a high-pitched laughter was heard in the background.

With a start, Rengar sat up in his bed, panting and sweating profusely. He checked his wound and saw that it was still stitched and closed. He then stared over at Kha'Zix's head and was relieved to find it still mounted on the wall just as he left it.

 _What the fuck was that nightmare? It felt so real…_

He disregarded it as just a nightmare, and figured he should go find Nidalee, but as he left his room, he noticed a piece of paper lying on the floor in the doorway. Looking around, he moved cautiously towards it and carefully picked it up. It read:

 _Toying with lives is such a thrill,_

 _One will die, by our Lord's will,_

 _Whatever happens blood shall spill,_

 _Whatever happens we shall kill._

As soon as he finished reading the note he immediately shot out of the house. He needed to find Nidalee and fast. For something to be able to find and dare to enter his home like that, they were either incredibly powerful or incredibly stupid, and he had a feeling it wasn't the latter.

* * *

After drinking, Nidalee felt refreshed, but as noon rolled by she felt hungry again. She looked around for something to eat, like a rabbit maybe or maybe another deer, but this wasn't her territory so she didn't want to hunt here without permission as it would have been disrespectful. Instead she opted to look for fruit to eat, but even that was proving difficult. Eventually, she gave up and went back to the stream. She figured that a fish or two would be okay, Rengar would never know. She turned back into a human and steadied her javelin. It was easier to fish like this than in her cougar form because she could've been swept away by the current if she wasn't careful. As she eyed a fish, she drew back he arm and just before she threw it, she heard a thud from behind her.

She spun around quickly, hiding the javelin behind her in case it was Rengar, but as she looked, there was nothing there. All there was was a green apple that wasn't there previously. She figured that her luck had turned and gave it no mind as she picked the apple up. She washed it in the stream and then took a bite. It was delicious but there was a subtle aftertaste that she had never tasted before. She stared at the apple for a second but then she saw everything split in two. Realisation set in not long after the double vision and as she dropped the apple, her legs gave out beneath her. She could hear someone calling her name in the distance as darkness set in.

* * *

"NIDALEE! NIDALEE!" he called frantically. He had been following her tracks and they pointed towards the stream. He hurried as fast as he could but when he got there, what he saw pained and angered him.

He found Nidalee lying unconscious on the creek bed and no matter how hard he tried he couldn't wake her up. He looked around for any evidence of what happened. There was no blood so it couldn't have been a weapon attack, which confused him as to what caused this, until his eyes set on the apple with a single bite in it.

 _Poison!_

He took the apple and gave it a smell; it was obviously laced with something but he couldn't tell what poison it was. Of course he couldn't he wasn't trained in working with poison at all. So lifting Nidalee up and place her on his back with her arms wrapped around his neck, he ran to the one person he knew who could help.

"Stay with me Nidalee! I'm not gonna let you die until I can repay that debt. If you live, then we'll be even, so don't you dare give up on me!"

* * *

 **A/N: Yeah, sorry for the dark chapter on Christmas day, I hadn't intended it to coincide this way, but it just happened. Anyway, I'm sorry if any festive spirits have been spoiled but I did warn you. Anyway, Merry Christmas to all, and for those of you who did read this, I hope you enjoyed it. We're finally meeting our villains, though admittedly I probably should've written this during Halloween time. Oh well.**

 **P.S. * I took the liberty of quoting some Shakespeare. It just seemed too appropriate to pass up. Not infringing any copyright laws, the bit marked between ** is owned by Shakespeare.**


	5. Answers

Rengar ran south through the jungle as fast as he could, whilst securing Nidalee with his hands. With Nidalee's chest on his back, he could feel her heartbeat and he realized that it was getting slower.

 _Shit! She won't make it at this rate!_

Muttering a curse, he stopped to tie Nidalee to him with his bola. With the bola wrapped tightly around both of their waists, he got on all fours and began to sprint. He moved as fast as he could, leaping over logs and meandering around the trees. At some point he felt a sharp pain coming from his midsection but he just ignored it. The most important thing was saving her.

A couple of minutes later, he arrived at his destination. In front of him was a giant cliff face with uncharacteristically tall bushes in front. Rengar stopped and roared to the sky, "GREENFATHER! GET OUT HERE NOW!"

After an agonizing moment of silence, he snarled and opened his mouth to roar again. Before he could the bushes began to tremble and he watched as they shifted apart revealing a cave entrance within the rock. He immediately ran in and at the end of the tunnel, there stood a large rock golem covered in moss and had a single daisy atop its head. He ignored the golem and ran straight past it into the clearing. He looked around and found who he was looking for playing with some critters. He immediately made a beeline straight towards him.

"Ah, little Rengo, it's been a long time! Oh, you're hurt." greeted the Greenfather, with a concerned look.

"I'm fine. But she needs your help. She's been –"

"Poisoned. Bring her over."

Obeying, he untied the bola and carried her over. Ivern twiddled his fingers and waved his hand and immediately tree branches grew out of the ground and then started bending and interweaving until a functioning bed was woven. He snapped his fingers and the top burst into leaves, simultaneously covering the entire thing. Rengar placed Nidalee atop the makeshift bed and watched expectantly as Ivern examined her. He checked her pulse, breathing and eye colour, all the while muttering his findings.

"Weak. Shallow. Jaundiced. Oh dear, that's quite unpleasant. I have just the thing!"

"You can save her right?" Asked Rengar hopefully.

As he grew some more plants and herbs he explained, "Oh but of course! This is child's play. It's a good thing you brought her to me in time, a few more minutes and I'm afraid she'd have died. What ails her is the Ajunta poison. It's a particularly nasty substance found in very few mushrooms here in the Kumungu. It protects itself extremely well as it expels spores which contain this poison as soon as anything touches it. If it is ingested or inhaled, the victim dies within the hour. If injected into the blood stream, they die within ten minutes. It systematically destroys the cells that it touches until the victim dies and then it will use the rotting body as nutrients to grow. All that aside, it is really quite easy to cure so long as it's applied in time."

Harvesting the leaves, berries and flowers of the plants he grew, he placed them in a stone bowl. With his free hand, he pointed at the collection of herbs and moved his finger in circles. The plants inside span around, tore and started blending. Once satisfied with the paste, he reached up to some leaves and dripped their dew into the concoction. Once fluid enough to drink, he poured it into Nidalee's mouth and she swallowed in gulps.

"There. She'll be fine now, just needs to rest."

Rengar blew out a sigh of relief as he slumped down and sat, leaning against a tree.

"It's your turn now."

"My turn?"

"Yes that wound isn't going to close itself! Well it will, but just not very quickly…"

Looking down, Rengar finally realized the source of the pain. He saw his stab wound open again as blood flowed out, though not as profusely as the last time. He grunted as he stood himself up and walked over to Ivern.

Conjuring another bed, Ivern motioned for Rengar to lie down. The Greenfather started making another paste with some different herbs and once done he inspected Rengar's wounds.

"My, my, what in this jungle could do this to _you_?" Inquired Ivern, in a teasing tone.

With a snort, Rengar replied with a grin, "As if you don't already know, old man."

"So then, I assume your collection is now complete then? Or did it best you once again."

Rengar growled at that. "It did not best me the first time. We merely fought to a standstill. But this time, I obtained what I failed to take last time. Its head."

"Ah, that's good. Now I'm going to remove the stitches. This is going to sting." Ivern warned with a chuckle as he pulled. In one swift motion, he extracted the whole thing and all Rengar felt was a very brief moment of sharp pain. As soon as the stitches were removed, Ivern applied the paste to the wound. That was when Rengar roared as the antiseptics did its work. It felt like hundreds of tiny needles poking into him as he clenched his teeth and glared daggers at Ivern.

"I did warn you!" He exclaimed jovially. "The paste will speed the healing significantly. You'll be fine by tomorrow."

As he laid there, he realized that the rock they were in was actually cylindrical. It opened up to the sky. With the paste applied, he sat up cross-legged on the bed and inspected his surroundings. It was rather spacious, though it didn't seem like it from the outside. There were trees all around the perimeter and in the center, there was a large pond. There were many animals living here, from frogs to raptors to even wolves. There were fish in the pond as well as some birds. There was also a couple of scuttlecrabs floating on the surface too. This entire oasis was teeming with wildlife and Ivern was their caretaker.

"Magnificent isn't it?" Asked Ivern as he watched Rengar look around.

"I assume nothing here kills anything else?"

"Of course they do! How else do they eat? Predators will be predators, isn't that right?"

"I suppose so." Rengar replied, with a smile.

"So…? Aren't you going to tell me how you two met and how you came to be here?"

Rengar sighed as he began to recount his story. "She found me bleeding out after my battle with Kha'Zix so she brought me to her den and nursed me back to health. She followed me back to my den as I returned with my trophy and she went wandering around while I took a nap. When I woke, I went and found her unconscious and now here we are. What I want to know is who was responsible for the attack and kill them."

"How do you know she was attacked? She might have just stepped on one of the mushrooms. Admittedly they don't really grow in your part of the jungle, but there may be one or two."

"I know because the poison was ingested. There was an apple with a single bite in it."

"Well that is certainly compelling proof. Given that the poison in question is the Ajunta poison, I think I may know who was responsible."

At that Rengar's ears perked up as he watched Ivern expectantly. "Who?" He asked.

"Since the mushroom only grows in the southeastern part of the Kumungu, there is only one person who can possibly be responsible. He is the only one who weaponizes the Ajunta poison. It's a yordle from Bandle City's elite task force, the Megling Commandos. It's Teemo, who also happens to be one of the Scouts of the Mothership. He's actually quite a jolly fella, though. He doesn't attack people randomly, only those who poses a threat to Bandle City."

"If he's the only one who weaponizes the Ajunta, then it has to be him!" Rengar asserted.

"There's just one problem though. He usually comes to the jungle to collect poison once every month, but he hasn't for the past three months. It's strange, he never changes his routine. Something bad is happening in the jungle, and it seems you two are caught in the middle. Oh well whatever happens, I'm sure you two can sort things out. In the meantime, rest."

"Hah, rest _less_ more like. As if I can sleep with all that's going on…"

"Oh? Could it be? Could the Pridestalker be worried about a certain pretty young lady?" Ivern teased.

Rengar narrowed his eyes as he glared at Ivern, accompanied by a snarl.

 _I am worried though… But why? I have no reason to be. Whatever. We're even now, that's all that matters._

Ivern continued laughing for another minute or so before he calmed down. He grew another plant, and by the strong smell, Rengar knew exactly what it was.

 _Oh, you old bastard._

Ivern extracted the juices from the leaves and then added some dew water, mixing with some fermenting grape juice, he held up the small bowl and offered it to Rengar.

 _Resist… Resist… Resist!_

"Come on, you know you want it!" Ivern teased happily.

The smell was invading Rengar's nostrils as he tried to turn away.

"Come on, you loved this stuff last time I saw you! Couldn't get enough of it! Then you went out like a light though, you slept like a log!"

The urge was overwhelming as he gave a sigh of concession and snatched the bowl from Ivern's hand. He down the catnip wine like water and gave another sigh, this time of content.

"See? I knew you loved it! I can make some more if you want." Offered Ivern.

"…Fine, but you're gonna pay for this, old man. Last time I drank catnip, I slept for an entire day."

"Oh, I know, it's just what you need for that wound to heal! Helps with the pain too! Here you go!" He beamed as he handed Rengar another bowl.

Taking it, Rengar downed it in one go and already he could feel the effects. Immediately he felt drowsy as a familiar warmth spread throughout his body. He lay down on his front, with his legs tucked in beneath him and his head resting on his two overlaying paws. As soon as he closed his eyes, he fell asleep.

Ivern watched and stroked Rengar's mane affectionately, as he whispered, "You've grown to be so strong. Your father would've been proud. Prouder than even you."

As the two slept, Ivern went to attend to all the other critters. As the sun set, he too laid down his head and rested.

* * *

In the morning, Ivern was the first to wake. As he gathered fruits in a basket that he wove, he heard a yawn. Turning around he found Nidalee sitting up stretching.

"Ah, you're awake I see. Did you sleep well?"

Startled, Nidalee turned to find the source of the voice. She immediately transformed into cougar form and readied herself to pounce as she hissed.

"Calm down, I'm a friend. _His_ friend to be specific." Ivern replied as he pointed to the sleeping Rengar, who gave the occasional snore.

Uncertain, Nidalee transformed back and said, "How did I get here? The last thing I remember was eating an apple by a stream."

"He carried you here. You were poisoned so he brought you to me to cure you. You seemed to be quite important to him too, after all he was bleeding when he arrived."

Nidalee's eyes widened in surprise, "Bleeding? He tore his wound open again?"

"Don't worry I fixed him up too. That was some pretty nice handiwork, I must say."

"Thanks… I guess. So… who exactly are you?"

"I'm the Greenfather, I take care of all life. I just happen to favour this jungle for one reason or another, so I live here most of the time."

"Huh. How come I've never seen or heard of you before? If you take care of all life that is."

"I don't really venture into your territories. I know Rengar heavily dislikes trespassing, and I assume you do too. Though I did meet some of your family once, they were very kind."

"Wait… _You're_ the tree man they told me about?"

Ivern chuckled at that, "Yes, I suppose so. Oh and in case you were wondering, I don't necessarily condone hunting, though I understand that it is required for the predators to live. Just don't do it excessively please."

"Oh…kay. So… how do you and Rengar know each other? You said you were his friend."

"Ah well I'm his father's friend to be precise. His father was the only person to actively seek me out. Everybody else who's heard of me, all think I'm a myth. It's got its perks, being a legend. It means that I don't get swamped by people looking for me. Though his father was not an ordinary person, he was very interesting to say the least. We struck an unlikely friendship, despite his… hobbies."

"You mean hunting? Rengar told me he was a renowned hunter."

"Oh? Rengar told you about his father? My, things have moved faster than it seems. He _never_ talks about his father, not even with me. Then again we haven't spoken in close to fifteen years." Ivern spoke with a comical tone, staring at Nidalee with a knowing expression.

"Wha- what are you talking about?! What's moved faster than it seems? A-anyway, shouldn't we wake him? He's been sleeping for a while." She said hurriedly, trying to change the subject but failing to hide her blush. Surely she didn't think of him _that_ way did she?

"Wh-why is he still sleeping anyw- Is that catnip? You fed him catnip?" She asked accusingly.

"Oh yeah, he loves that stuff. He'll keep sleeping a couple of hours past noon at least. You want some?"

"I'll… pass." She said with reluctance. As much as she would enjoy catnip, she'd like to stay awake for their trip back.

"So, listen." Ivern began, tone changing from jovial to serious. "Before his father left, he told me to take care of him, but not to interfere in his development. His father probably knew that he wasn't coming back, but he didn't tell Rengo anything because he didn't want the little guy to worry. I suppose he made me Rengo's godfather of sorts when he left, but I've mostly just taken a sideline observer's approach as his father wished."

Nidalee listened intently as she could hear the affection in his voice that only a parent would have for their child. Ivern was stroking Rengar's mane again.

"Rengo's pretty soft underneath it all. He's had a hard life. He was heartbroken and distraught when his father disappeared. The only person he ever loved left him and he doesn't even know why. So, Rengo buried his emotions away and occupied his mind with hunting. It worked for a while, the Thrill of the Hunt was enough to wall him off from his sadness. He doesn't like to get close to people but if he's told you about his father, then he's opening up to you. However, if you really wish to free him from his protective shell, please make sure that he never goes through that pain again. If you tear down his walls, I don't know if he could cope for a second time; given that Kha'Zix is dead and there aren't enough challenging preys around anymore, the Thrill of the Hunt won't be an option again. Think on it."

* * *

As noon passed, Rengar finally began to stir. He yawned and stretched as he opened his eyes. He sat up feeling refreshed and rejuvenated. He looked down and found the wound had healed completely and now all that's left are two large scars. He looked around but noticed that Nidalee was gone. He walked up to Ivern who was playing with the wolves again and asked, "Where's Nidalee?"

"Ah you're up! Had a nice nap I presume? Nidalee went to bathe, in fact you should too, you've still got blood on your fur." Ivern said, pointing to where his wounds once were. "There's another warm spring behind those trees, Daisy will show you the way."

It was a relaxing bath. Relaxing for the muscles and soothing for the aches and pains. All the tension and stress in his body melted away as the hotspring worked its magic.

 _Ah, that felt good._

As he climbed out and dried himself, he stepped out of the trees and saw that Nidalee was already there. As he walked up, he noticed that Nidalee had a worried look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Rengar asked her.

"I sense strong magic approaching. Could be danger…" she replied.

"Ah, don't worry about it. She means no harm." Ivern said nonchalantly. He didn't pay any heed as the ground started rumbling.

Suddenly, a large pink flower bud erupted from the ground behind them. As it opened, a red-haired woman scantily clad in leaves and petals stepped out cooing, "Ooh, Iverrrn. Oh what's this? We have visitors! Ivern why didn't you tell me!"

"Sorry dear, they came rather unexpectedly!"

Rengar just groaned as he realized who it was, and Nidalee was just watching with curiosity.

"Who is she?" She whispered to Rengar.

"That. Is Zyra. She's a plant lady and she's a real piece of work. Believe it or not, she's actually a lot easier to deal with ever since meeting Ivern. I guess he has that effect on people. You know we had to have an agreement so she wouldn't just trespass into my territory and kill all the prey? I can hunt in her territory as long as I leave the bodies for her plants to eat. I get to keep the heads."

"What does she get out of that?" Nidalee asked curiously.

"She gets me not ripping her head off. As much as I hate to admit it, she keeps the flora of the jungle in check. There's a reason why the Ajunta mushroom only grows in the southeastern part of the jungle. But if she comes and takes my prey one more time, the mushrooms can go grow on _her_ carcass for all I care." He said this last part louder so Zyra would overhear.

"Oh Rengar dear, you aren't still mad about that are you? It's just so hard to make out where your territory starts! I thought the impaled heads were all just a sort of decoration!"

Rengar groaned again as he facepalmed.

"So, Zyra. Why are you here?" he asked in a serious tone.

"I'm just here to see Ivern you silly. We've merged our domains you know. The entire southern half of the Kumungu belongs to both of us now."

"What!?" Shouted Nidalee and Rengar simultaneously.

"Oh stop, it's not that big of a deal! Now we can take better care of the jungle together instead of him staying in his half and me staying in my half. Now we both stay in the south half and support the jungle!"

Zyra was sitting on Ivern's lap playing with a flower growing out of his head. It was an unusual sight.

"So… Zyra and Ivern… How does that even work?" She asked Rengar.

"She's a plant that turned into a human, he's a human that turned into a plant. It's all very strange."

Zyra overheard the conversation as she spoke up, "Oh you want to learn how plants reproduce? That's fantastic! You see, insects help a lot. They share pollen from one flower to another flower and then when the flower withers and it turns into a fruit, the seeds are inside. It's called the ovary you know! Seed dispersion has to be my favourite thing to watch in the jungle. There are just so many different methods! Some fall off the tree and the wind blows them away to somewhere new, some land with the excrements of birds, some fall in the rivers and streams and get carried away that way. Some have hooks that cling to fur. My favourite one has to be the Exploding Cucumber though! When ripe, it forcefully ejects a stream of its seeds in a thick gooey substance over a great distance! It's beautiful to watch. It was the first thing that Ivern showed me when we first met!"

Rengar groaned even louder at that, whilst Ivern just howled with laughter.

 _She has to be doing that on purpose…_

"I think…" Rengar said as he stood up, "We ought to leave! Come on Nidalee, we still have to get back to your den before your family gets worried."

"Good idea." She replied.

As the two turned to leave via the tunnel, Zyra spoke up behind them in a more serious tone.

"Oh, before I forget. Be careful in the jungle. I sensed an evil aura around the jungle when I came over today. It might actually be better if you stayed here."

Before Rengar could answer, Nidalee interjected, "If there's danger then I need to go warn my family!" She rushed out of the cavern and Rengar hastily followed.

"Let's hurry!" She said as she changed to her cougar form and sprinted home with Rengar sprinting on all four besides her.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was actually a lot of fun to write. Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! And yes the Exploding Cucumber is a real plant. Look it up.**


	6. Defiance

Ivern and Zyra watched as the pair left the sanctuary in a hurry. Ivern looked over to Zyra and commented, "They're gonna get into trouble aren't they?"

"Yes well that is to be expected. One does not threaten the jungle without making enemies of its protectors." replied Zyra.

"Let's go then shall we? I have a feeling that they'll need our help."

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

Zyra waved her hand over the ground and a large flower bulb grew out. It opened up and Zyra and Ivern stepped inside. Closing up, the bulb retreated into the ground and disappeared.

* * *

 _"So the cougar lives and breathes."_

 _"Lives to see the pain we'll leave."_

 _"Then let us go and slay the beasts."_

 _"Upon whose souls our Lord shall feast."_

 _Two figures stood cackling as they watched some cougars pacing the perimeter of their den, through their cauldrons._

* * *

It has been roughly ten minutes since Nidalee and Rengar left Ivern's rock. They had entered Nidalee's territory already and were sprinting straight towards her den.

As they neared, they could see the cougars standing outside watching them. Nidalee was elated to see that nothing had befallen them but as they drew closer she could see that their expressions were frantic. Seeing that something was wrong she picked up her pace, prompting Rengar to follow suit. The cougars, seeing Nidalee draw closer, all roared at them in warning. Nidalee didn't care and kept running however Rengar heeded their warning and immediately tackled Nidalee over to the side.

Nidalee snarled at Rengar and turned back into her human form to push him off but as she was about to stand and start running again she was momentarily blinded by a bright light emanating from her den.

More specifically, the perimeter of her den began to glow with a bright orange light, trapping the cougars within and with Rengar and Nidalee some distance on the outside. Nidalee watched in horror as a giant orb of orange materialised in the air above the den, it looked like a giant orange wisp but with an evil sinister face on it in a shade of yellow. The sinister face seemed to laugh although no sound came out as it began to grow.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET OUT OF THERE!" she cried in frustration. Deep down she knew that they couldn't and what was about to happen but she didn't want to accept it. Rengar was grabbing onto her as he stopped her from moving any closer.

"LET GO OF ME!" she roared.

"No! There's nothing you can do for them now!" Rengar roared back.

"Then I'll die with them!" she said with a sadness in her voice.

This time it was the cougars that roared. They all roared at Nidalee to warn her away as tears fell down their faces. They then growled softly as they continued to cry. Nidalee wasn't struggling out of Rengar's grasp anymore and was now kneeling with her hands on the ground to support her. She too had tears streaming down her cheeks as she spoke softly, "I love you all too..."

As soon as she said that, a cackling was heard behind them as the giant orange wisp shook violently. As it exploded, it enveloped the entire area in a blinding orange light. Nidalee screamed as she watched this all unfurl. The cougars were all caught up in it but the orange haze that resulted from it never flowed out of the perimeter. The haze obscured everything inside but they could hear the cries of the cougars. It was blood curdling to hear the screams of her family as she watched, safe on the outside. As the haze dissipated, the area was revealed and the cougars all lay motionless on the ground. Nidalee was completely bawling her eyes out now and Rengar just held her close trying to comfort her. He knew nothing was going to help but he knew the pain of losing a loved one so he could sympathise, though his was never to this extent.

Nidalee still had her eyes closed as she cried, but Rengar was watching his surroundings.

 _Whoever did this will pay with their lives._

The cackling could be heard once again as both Rengar and Nidalee stared in that direction.

"Let us avenge your fallen family." Rengar suggested. Nidalee just nodded as she struggled to hold back her emotions.

The perpetrators strolled into sight now and they could see clearly that one was tall with giant bat wings, had red hair and wore a black dress embroiled with jewels and decorations. The other was short with pointy ears and was clearly a yordle but was blonde and had snake-like eyes. Both of them had a floating cauldron in front of them that glowed with an ominous purple aura. They cackled once more as they spoke.

"The number's reached, it has been done."

"The reign of our Lord has now begun."

This was followed by growling as Rengar and Nidalee, now standing, glowered at them.

Rengar was about to roar a threat at them but was stopped. He could feel the murderous aura beside him and he just stared in surprise. Nidalee's face was contorted in rage and grief but her eyes held only revenge. The intent to kill was so apparent and intense, it made Rengar slightly fearful of her.

 _Nidalee..._

Nidalee hurled her javelin as hard as she could towards the taller witch but she just cackled and waved her hand dismissively as a large purple forcefield shimmered into existence and completely blocked the javelin. As it clattered to the ground, the yordle witch picked up her cauldron and pointed the opening at Nidalee and Rengar. Magical projectiles fired from the cauldron in their direction. They both dodged the projectiles as they realised how dangerous those shots were. As soon as they impacted something, they would just explode violently.

As soon as her javelin materialised in her hand again, she would hurl it at the witches with all her strength. Once again the purple shield denied the javelin its target and once again the javelin fell to the ground.

Nidalee stared at them with a cold determination in her eyes and an expression so murderous that it would make even Kha'Zix cower in fear.

Nidalee charged the witches with Rengar close behind. The witches didn't stay for the impact and leapt back a safe distance. Nidalee threw her javelin at the little yordle who held onto her cauldron. The other witch was preoccupied with numerous bolas attempting to crack her shield and ensnare her. The javelin never made contact but it was not intended to. As the yordle was distracted by the javelin, Nidalee had assumed her cougar form and followed close behind her airborne javelin. Using the opportunity gained from the witch's momentary distraction, she leapt at the witch with her fangs bared and claws outstretched. The yordle blasted the ground beneath her with her cauldron-cannon and it propelled her a distance away. As she moved to chase the yordle, she didn't notice the ball of purple energy shooting towards her. Quick as a flash, she was suddenly careening to the side as she landed ungracefully on her back. Collecting herself, she looked over at what she collided with. Her eyes grew wide as she saw Rengar on one knee with both arms raised in front of him in a defensive stance. There was purple energy encircling his body and seemed to restrict him somewhat tightly.

He didn't notice as he growled, "Go! I'll take care of this bitch. You go kill that snake-eyed yordle!"

* * *

Nidalee just nodded her appreciation and darted off in pursuit of the blonde witch. As she left Rengar behind, she caught sight of the little yordle who was skipping along the ground cackling maniacally. She threw javelin after javelin and each of them either missed its mark or were shot out of the air by a projectile. The yordle witch seemed to get bored as she stopped and faced Nidalee. She pointed the cauldron at her and as the cauldron lit in a menacing red aura, multiple projectiles were fired in quick succession.

Nidalee shifted to cougar form and leapt out of the way as explosions sounded behind her. The witch's attacks were relentless; the barrage of magical missiles were seemingly infinite as Nidalee kept running. Hiding behind trees and bushes to escape the yordle's sight. She had circled the witch a few times by now and there was a perimeter of craters surrounding the witch. Nidalee, however, had not been mindlessly dodging and evading attacks. As she circled the witch, she watched, as a predator watches prey, and noted anything that could be advantageous for her. Like how the witch mindlessly shoots without forethought or how the interval between each shot provides an opening or the fact that the witch does not seem to see anything except her target.

"You do nought but flee and run,  
Perhaps you fear my magic gun.  
Rightful fear for we have won,  
Do fight back, else you spoil my fun!"

The witch's taunts fell on deaf ears as Nidalee planned her move. All she took from that was how arrogant this yordle was. As she circled the witch, she counted the shots and the time it takes between each. Immediately after a shot, she pounced forward. The witch shot at her, but Nidalee had counted the seconds. She knew the shot would be coming and dodged. As she drew nearer, the witch can't seem to land a shot and the yordle was feeling more and more restricted. In a panic the yordle aimed her cauldron beneath her and fired an explosive shot. The explosion propelled her into the air and away from Nidalee, however Nidalee just smiled as she reverted back to human form. She had hunted enough rabbits and deer to know by instinct where her prey will land. As she levelled her javelin, she hurled it at the yordle's destination. In the air, the yordle can do nothing as she watched the javelin fly towards her. In desperation, she prepared a large explosive projectile in her cauldron and fired it towards Nidalee whilst airborne. Nidalee barely had time to jump back as the magical shot impacted the ground and immediately exploded. The force threw Nidalee backwards and she landed ungracefully at a tree stump. As she got up, she heard a screech and a hiss and figured that the javelin must've connected. She shifted to cougar form again and darted straight at the witch. As the yordle was preoccupied with removing the javelin from her tiny form, she didn't realise Nidalee pouncing on her. Nidalee was fueled by rage, she landed on top of the yordle and was pinning her on the ground. She scratched the yordle all over as she swiped with her claws. She bit with her teeth and tasted the witch's blood. It was a disgusting taste but she relished the vengeance.

After Nidalee was done, the yordle was all but unrecognizable. The skin was torn to ribbons, blood sprayed all around, the witch had been mutilated and Nidalee finally calmed down as she examined her work. With her last bit of strength, the witch muttered her final words.

"Do not think… that you have won,  
For fear the might… of my magic gun.  
You have no time… to flee and run,  
My funeral pyre… a _blast_ for fun."

Nidalee had no idea what the witch was talking about. However, as she eyed the cauldron which now lay sideways on the ground, she could see an intense orange orb inside. She watched as it suddenly pulsed and turned a deep red. Realising the problem, Nidalee turned and ran as the cauldron suddenly exploded. The explosion was powerful, as it decimated everything caught in its blast radius. Nidalee hid behind a large rock as the explosion happened, but it was not enough to protect her from the force. The rock shielded her from the immense heat, but the force flung her into a tree and as she lay dazed, she heard a ringing in her ears as her vision blurred and she fell unconscious.

* * *

Rengar was bound in magic as he struggled to free himself. As strong as he was, his muscles could not force the magic restraints open. He had felt a similar sensation to this once before but he couldn't remember when.

 _Wait… That nightmare… I'm gonna tear the head off this bitch's neck!_

As he continued to struggle, a large explosion somewhat in the distance, rocked the forest. The witch's expressions turned sour as she turned towards Rengar. She raised a hand and the ground beneath him cracked and purple light shone through.

"You will die for my sister's fall,  
Upon the ground, where she doth sprawl.  
I grow bored of this tiresome brawl,  
So go die now, your past doth call."

As she finished speaking, the ground beneath Rengar cracked even wider. The light spilt out more and more when suddenly, the magic enveloped him entirely. He struggled to stay standing as he now sees only darkness.

 _Another trick! You're a dead bitch walking!_

He knows he's still conscious, but he feels weak as he fell to his knees. There was nothing in the darkness except a very quiet voice. The voice was the only sound left as he couldn't perceive anything of the jungle anymore. He couldn't make out what the voice was saying, but it seemed to carry a lot of sadness as the same word gets repeated over and over again.

As the voice grew louder, he first recognized that it was his own but of his younger self, and then he realized what he was calling for.

 _Father…_

Outside, the witch watched, amused, as Rengar knelt with his eyes closed. A tear formed in the corner of his eye and then rolled down his fur. He was still inside a dome of purple magic as it glowed and crackled.

"The tragedies that did befall,  
Entombs despair inside your soul.  
Tormented since a child so small,  
Enough no more, your meagre wall."

She cackled more as Rengar's face contorted in pain as tears flowed from his eye. Memories forced their ways into his head as he desperately tried to fight them back. Memories of the happy times with his father, then shattering as he reached for it. Memories of that night when he waited, but his father did not return. The sadness he felt, the loneliness, and the despair that he blocked out were all piling into his mind. He was forced to relive that painful event over and over again.

Suddenly out of the darkness, his father appeared before him. He held that same smile he always had as he held a hand out.

"Come my son. Come join me. It's not so bad where I am, a little hot but that's tolerable. The important thing is we'll be together again. Take my hand, and I promise. We'll be together forever."

"Father…?"

"Yes my son, come. Take my hand."

As Rengar tentatively reached out, he suddenly remembered his father's lesson.

 _Never make a promise you can't keep, but never break a promise once it's made._

He stopped his hand over his father's, hovering there for a second, he withdrew and shook his head.

"No. No! You aren't my father!" He roared with pained rage in his eyes.

"Of course I am. Come with me, I promise –"

Rengar smirked sadly and said, "No. My father would never make a promise he couldn't keep. I don't know what you are and I don't care. I'm gonna kill you were you stand!"

The witch's once smiling demeanor immediately disappeared, now she was fuming with rage. He was so close to accepting the invitation of death, now she will do it with force.

Rengar's father's face changed in an instant. Instead of the loving smile, it's now a sickening grin. With his voice distorted into a shrill psychotic scream, he said, "Your father left for a reason! Did you ever think a human could love an abomination such as yourself? You're a monster in their eyes! A deranged animal! No human could ever love you! In fact, your father was glad to be rid of you! He left and never turned back. The man you so dearly loved never loved you and left!" He smirked and relished the next few words, "Just as that cougar is about to leave you as well. Through DEATH!"

At those last two words, Rengar's fury was uncontrollable. The witch could feel a sudden change in pressure as bloodlust emanated from the restrained Rengar. She watched as his eye suddenly shot open, with the blue of his eye piercing through the purple veil of magic and focusing onto her. His face was scrunched in anger as he opened his mouth and let out a deafening roar. All of his anger, all of his sadness, all of his emotions fueled that roar. It sent a shockwave throughout the forest, causing what remaining birds to cry and fly off into the sky. The shockwave rivalled that of the previous explosion as it caused tree branches to sway and flung the nearby leaves and logs away from him. Cracks appeared in the purple dome of magic, bright blue cracks the same colour as his eye. As the cracks spread throughout the entire dome, it shattered into countless pieces and dissipated into nothing before the shards hit the ground. The magical restraints were also gone as he could move freely now. He stood up slowing, glaring at the witch. The murder in his expression was purer than any hatred he felt for Kha'Zix.

"YOU'LL PAY! WITH YOUR LIFE!" He roared as he leapt straight towards the witch with weapons drawn. The witch seemed afraid and startled, for none of this was as she anticipated. He landed on her and his weight forced her to the ground. He hacked and slashed the witch all over, in a berserk rage. It was a grizzly sight. As he stabbed and slashes, blood spurted out and coloured his fur. He didn't care as he continued.

On the brink of death, the witch raised a finger and pointed it at Rengar. A speck of purple light emitted from her fingertip just as Rengar brought his knife down and stabbed her in the heart. The light from her finger formed a tether leading from her finger to his chest and before she died she taunted him one last time.

"Do not think you've won at all,  
For my magic shackles your soul.  
You're too late now, we've reached our goal  
Our souls to his, our Lord we call."

As she died, a purple light came floating out from her chest. The tether was still there between the purple light and Rengar's chest, but as it moved it seemed to fade. It was joined in the air by another similar ball of light and the two descended and landed upon the ground.

A deafening roar, woke Nidalee up with a start. She recognized that it belonged to Rengar, and she could feel the emotions packed into that roar. She got up groggily and stalked her way to the source of the roar. Upon arrival, she discovered a scene not unlike the one she just left. The tall witch with the bat wings lay mutilated on the ground with Rengar standing and panting over her. His back was facing Nidalee so as she moved to stand next to him, she noticed the dried tears beside his eye. She didn't want to ask that question, so instead she just opted to ask, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah… I'll be fine… as soon as we kill _that_." He replied while pointing towards the two purple lights on the ground.

The two glowing balls of light started to spin around each other gaining speed until they became a ring of purple light. Inside the ring, the colour of the ground disappeared and was replaced with a dark hellish red. Rengar and Nidalee stared as a trident and golden crown protruded from the portal accompanied by a hellish demonic laughter.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this is quite late! I spent a lot of time with my family through new years. I hope you've all had a fantastic New Year's Day, and let's pray that 2017 is much better than the shitstain that was 2016. Here's to less deaths and apocalyptic politics! *raises imaginary glass***

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, it shouldn't be long now as this story is drawing to a close! :)**


	7. Death

"See? I told you they didn't need our intervention." Stated Ivern as he and Zyra watched the events unfold from withing a large bush that he grew.

"You know you could have spared him from that awful magic that bat woman was using?" Inquired Zyra.

"Perhaps, but he freed himself just fine. Besides, I had promised his father that I would not interfere with his development and independence."

"So what will you do now? You and I both know that that final hex placed on him is potentially fatal. Will you watch him die as you honour your promise?" Zyra's tone was entirely quizzical. She held no attachments to either Rengar or Nidalee so she was merely curious as to what Ivern would choose given his position.

"Of course I want to help. My promise means nothing if he was to die. However, you and I both know that it is not a spell either of us can lift. The choice is his to make and I have no sway on that decision, however I feel like I know what he will choose…" Ivern sighed deeply as they continued to watch, hidden inside the tall grass.

"Wait... Is that...?" began Zyra, as she saw the creature exit the portal.

"What in the name of Mother Nature happened to him?" exclaimed Ivern as the two watched the newcomer.

* * *

Rengar and Nidalee stared at the figure that rose from within the hole. The thing was the same size as the small witch and was just as furry. The differences being, this one has fur as red as fire save for the patch of white on his belly. He held a pitchfork with golden prongs and wore a crown of the same gold colour but was also glowing and floating above his head. He had two big brown curved horns protruding from his head and had a red tail that ended in a black triangular shape. As the portal closed beneath him, he grinned as his eyes remained closed. The creature held a happy and friendly expression and under different circumstances Nidalee might've found it cute. Right now, she knows that this beast is responsible for the deaths of her family and she felt nothing but pure hatred for him.

She glared murder at this tiny creature while Rengar just stood slightly behind her. He wanted to believe that this little furball couldn't possibly pose a threat however his rational side convinced him not to underestimate his enemy. The two hunters watched his every move, being especially cautious.

"What's wrong?" asked Teemo, feigning mock concern, "is there something on my face?" he moved to touch his face as though there was a stain on his cheek. He stopped his movements as he looked directly into Nidalee's eyes as a malicious grin crossed his face. "Or are you trying to come up with the best way to avenge those cougars that I slaughtered."

Nidalee's eyes widened as she started at this demon in disbelief. Despite his appearances this creature was still evil, and had been responsible for the murders.

"...Why?" was all she could muster out whilst trying to keep her voice from shaking with anger.

"Why what? Why choose a pitchfork? Why it's because it symbolises discord, hatred and contempt perfectly. There's a reason why it's the weapon of choice in a revolt you know. I thought it was fitting."

"No... Why kill them?" She muttered quietly.

"Ah my dear, just as a revolt seeks to dethrone the royalty, I too seek to dethrone the rulers of this jungle. Nothing personal." came the reply with a sly smirk.

Rengar watched Nidalee's expression change from calm sorrow to murderous fury. Her eyes flared at that answer and she looked ready to rip his head from his tiny little body.

The creatures noticed this too as he just started howling with laughter, until his gaze once again fell until he met Nidalee's. This look was one of threat and cruelty as he said simply, "Do not think that you will leave here alive."

The devil raised his pitchfork and slammed it back down onto the ground once. Immediately, the thing began to grow in size. His eyes were no longer happy thin slits and had opened replaced with large yellow orbs with glowing red irises. His teeth became sharp like fangs and his horns grew and curved backwards at the top, not dissimilar to a ram's horns. He grew until he was double the size of both Rengar and Nidalee. His face no longer held that friendly joyous expression and now looked crazed and demonic. He stuck his head forward, opened his mouth and let out a bloodcurdling roar. His saliva spurted out with the roar and as the droplets landed, they charred the land that they touched. In fact, the grass and other foliage that was too close to his feet were burnt too. Nidalee and Rengar both watched the display of horror that was Teemo and stood before him with stoic expressions. They weren't afraid, nor would they back down.

"DIE!" Bellowed the demon. His voice was no longer the high-pitched chirpy sound and was now a low, demonic rasp. He pointed his pitchfork at the two hunters and from the tip, projectiles of orange shot forth.

Rengar and Nidalee rolled in opposite directions to dodge the attack. The ground where they had stood moments before was now black and fuming. Everything in that immediate vicinity withered and was burnt to ashes.

* * *

For the moment, Devil-Teemo's attention was on Nidalee. She threw her javelin at the monster but any wound that he received healed almost immediately and pushed the javelin out. She was on the defensive as she realized that none of her attacks were working, so she dodged and evaded. Rengar was about to move to help when a vine suddenly shot out of the ground and grabbed his wrist. He turned suddenly, to see Zyra and Ivern standing behind him. Zyra looked amused but Ivern seemed grim. Before he could ask, Ivern spoke up.

"The witch you were fighting placed a spell on you. It bound your soul to hers and now her soul is merging with that abomination's. Once the merge is complete, whatever befalls Teemo's soul will likewise happen to yours. In other words, when that happens, if you kill him, you will die too." Seeing Rengar about to ask the obvious question, he continued, "The spell has a certain range. Move out of that range and the spell's influence will be too weak to maintain the bind. However…"

"I would be leaving Nidalee alone to deal with that monster." Rengar finished. Ivern nodded sadly.

"I won't run. I _never_ run, and I won't start now." Stated Rengar solemnly. Ivern didn't look surprised, just saddened.

Ivern sighed and said, "Thought you might say that… Then you should know, there is an awful amount of dark magic emanating from that crown. It's unusually skewed. My guess is that that crown is his source of magic in this world. You don't have long until the souls merge completely. Five minutes at most."

"That should be enough. Thank you." Replied Rengar as he cut the vine with his knife. He turned and ran towards the giant lumbering demon.

"I hope so…" whispered Ivern beneath his breath.

 _Five minutes… Whatever happens, better me than her…_

* * *

Nidalee looked weary, she had been moving constantly trying to evade the demon's attacks. She has a few burn marks on her body and her clothes are rather tattered, but she was still standing. The same cannot be said for her surroundings. Most of the trees have been struck down and were burning, the grass was now non-existent and all that remained were piles of ash and cinders. She stood atop the charred ground as she held her shoulder where one of the worse wounds were.

She watched the demon before her raise the pitchfork again. She was resolved. The jungle was burning; her family was dead. She was going to kill Teemo or die trying.

As Teemo levelled the pitchfork towards her, he glared and in his raspy voice he taunted, "Ready to die?"

Nidalee just stared at him with an angry expression. It definitely seemed like the 'die trying' option. Nothing she did had any effect and her strength was draining fast. Wounds and exhaustion stack quickly and now she could barely force herself to move.

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?"

Nidalee glared at him a bit longer, before lowering her head a little in resignation and saying, "The jungle is burning and everyone I love is dead. What's left to live for?"

Teemo just grinned, baring his fangs as his initial question was just answered and he moved to fire his attack. Before he could, Rengar had reached them and leapt onto his head.

With a mighty roar, he thrusted his knife and arm-blades straight down as he landed. The blades all penetrated and stuck inside Teemo's head. Teemo barely felt a prick from that and his attention shifted to the lion now on the back of his head.

"Not everyone yet it seems." He mused. As he tried to smack Rengar off of his head, he struck thin air as Rengar used his knife as a foothold and leapt off of it. The momentum carried him where he wanted, and he landed on the floating crown above Teemo's head. With a deft strike, he punched the crown with all his strength, allowing his arm-blades to slice through. Teemo's eyes widened in shock as he realised what just happened and frantically shook his head trying to fling Rengar off. However, Rengar held on tight as he withdrew his hand and punched again. This time, around the holes created by the arm-blades, cracks appeared and began to grow. Between the cracks a purple glow was emanating and as the cracks propagated over more and more of the crown, the purple glow intensified. With a third and final punch, the entire crown was covered in the network of cracks, as the puncture holes flared purple and the whole thing shattered into thousands of pieces accompanied by a burst of purple light.

"NOOOO! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?! YOU INSOLENT WRETCH! I WILL DESTROY YOU!" roared demon.

Rengar landed back on top of his head and retrieved his hunting knife. He then made his way to the front of his face and using a handful of fur as a handhold, he swung down and stabbed his knife right into an eye. Teemo's scream from that was deafening. The force of the sound hit Rengar so hard, that his grip faltered and was thrown to the ground. Teemo dropped his pitchfork and held his hands to his wounded eye, still screaming. It was bleeding and as the blood dropped onto the ground, it sizzled and burnt the ashes. Teemo raised his hands above his head and with a pained bellow, he summoned an enormous orange sphere. The wisps of yellow inside made an angry face as it began to darken in colour.

Rengar got back onto his feet as he backed up. He spotted Nidalee standing a distance away, eyes wide in shock and mouth agape. She was still and only snapped out of it when Rengar shouted at her.

"NIDALEE! DON'T YOU DARE GIVE UP!"

The words sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't remember where she heard them from. It worked in snapping her out of wallowing in despair though and she watched as the monster that is Teemo, summon that gigantic ball of death.

She steeled herself and materialized her javelin in her hand. She closed her eyes as she held her javelin horizontally in front of her. She thought back to all of the happy times she had in this jungle with her family and as tears fell down her face, she fed every ounce of magic into her javelin. The javelin glowed green as she hurled it with all the strength she has left and watched it sail towards the demon.

Teemo didn't even notice the projectile coming his way and only stopped his thrashing when he felt a sudden sharp stinging pain in his furry chest. Where his heart should be, he found a gaping hole. As the javelin struck, it pierced through his entire body and out through the back cleanly. Without his source of magic, the wound failed to close and he collapsed onto his back.

Without the strength to move, the demon just laid there staring at his creation. "If I can't have this jungle… Nobody will." And he began to laugh. It was a wholly demonic laughter, even more frightening than that of Kha'Zix.

As Ivern and Zyra finished dousing the flames on the entire jungle, they immediately used their magic to hold the orb of destruction floating above their heads. Ivern commanded all of the pollen and leaves and flowers to wrap themselves around the red sphere to create a glowing golden translucent barrier surrounding the sphere. Zyra grew a giant carnivorous flower out of the ground and had it swallow the sphere whole with the gold barrier along with it and closing the petals, wrapped the flower in thick thorny vines.

The demon started to blacken and crumble as though he was made of cinders. As Nidalee walked up to him, he watched her and sneered before his entire body crumbled away.

"Now… The last thing you love… dies."

Nidalee was confused for a second, until suddenly an ethereal chain blinked into existence. It was purple and protruded from Teemo's hole in the chest. Her eyes followed the chain as it extended behind her and what she saw at the end of it made her heart jump.

The chain extended into Rengar's chest.

He was on one knee, using his knife as a support and clutching his chest with his other hand. His chest felt tighter and tighter and it was difficult to breathe.

 _This is it then…_

He looked up and just smirked at Nidalee, affectionately, and as the purple ethereal chain flared, he felt his heart thump once and stop. Nidalee was already sprinting over, when she saw him collapsing onto the ground as his blue eye dimmed, and as she reached him, she immediately fell to her knees and checked his pulse. His heartbeat.

It wasn't there.

She tried to jumpstart his heartbeat by pressing down on his chest repeatedly, to no avail. She tried to heal him with her magic, but that didn't work either. She kept trying and trying, anything and everything but it was useless. He was gone.

Ivern and Zyra walked up to Nidalee and found her crying into Rengar's chest. Ivern's head was low as Zyra watched with indifference. She empathised with Ivern though, it was clear he was trying to withstand tears as he tried to look anywhere except at Rengar.

Zyra tilted her head curiously as she noticed something. She stared and almost passed it off as her imagination until she saw it again. It was faint but there was something there. She nudged Ivern slightly and as he looked to her, she simply pointed. When it glowed again, Ivern's eyes lit up as realisation dawned on him. He chuckled silently as he cursed himself for forgetting how crafty that man was.

He put his hand on Nidalee's shoulders comfortingly and as she stared at him with watery, pleading eyes, he smiled and just said, "Look." As he pointed to Rengar's chest.

She watched and her eyes widened. The Bone-Tooth Necklace.

It was _glowing_.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry this took so long. It was hard trying not to make Teemo a joke villain. Hopefully I succeeded, though. Next chapter will be the final chapter and conclude this part of the story, however my next story will have tie-ins with this one. I thank everyone who has stuck with me throughout this story and sincerely thank the reviewers for taking time to write a review. It's nice to know that someone other than me enjoys me writing stories. So thank you!**


	8. Life

Nidalee watched as the Bone Tooth Necklace glowed faintly. She stifled her tears in hope as she looked up to Ivern, who was smiling calmly.

"Wh-what? Wh-why is it growing? What's gonna happen to him?" she asked cautiously.

"That, my dear, is an old friend saving his son." Ivern kept his hand on Nidalee's shoulder in reassurance but she didn't feel any better. After all, she found no sign of life left in Rengar, no breathing nor heartbeat. She couldn't believe that he could be saved nor could she believe that he was really gone.

"How? How did this even happen? That _thing_ died! How did- How?" she asked with an air of desperation in her voice.

"The witch... The one Rengar killed. Before she died she bound his soul to hers and when she died her soul was absorbed by that demon..." Ivern didn't want to finish the explanation for he knew how she'd react. However, Nidalee had already put the pieces together.

"So when I killed the demon... It took him as well." the guilt was apparent in her voice as was the self-loathing and pain. "It's my fault... I did this to him..." she was on the verge of crying again as her guilt overwhelmed her.

"And after he saved my life again, this is how I repaid him..." tears fell once more as she said this and curled back up and sobbed.

"You mustn't blame yourself. He chose this. I told him that if he moved far enough away the spell would break. But he chose to stay. For you. I can't say for certain but I think, in his mind, he chose to trade his life for yours."

"... That still makes it my fault. If I wasn't so pathetic maybe he wouldn't have needed to come save me." Her reply was bitter and filled with self-deprecation.

"Nidalee, you know that's not true. He wou-"

"How is it not true!? I thought I lost everyone! I thought I was alone! I was ready to just die! But he... He..." she was angry with herself and tears of sadness and rage fell from her eyes. She was angry at how blind she was. In her despair and anger, she had forgotten that there was one more person whom she cared for. She didn't even realise just how much she actually cared for him. But now that person lay on the ground in front of her, unmoving. She hated herself.

"Oh, my child. Enough of that. He'll come back to you. Just have a little faith in him. Alright?"

"How can you be so calm?! How could you be so certain that he'll be okay?! You told me yourself you were like his godfather, how are you so unemotional? Or are you just actually that cold?" she nearly spat that last word as she resented how unaffected he seemed to be from his godson's death.

"No my dear, it's called Hope. His father left that Bone Tooth Necklace to him and if you calm down you'll be able to see the wonderful enchantment on it. I suspect there were other reasons his father went to Ionia, after all Spirit Magic like this can only be found there. Hope is a fickle thing, but it is needed nonetheless; so have hope, after all, he told you not to give up did he not? And enough of the self-loathing. When he wakes up and sees you like this he'll probably give you a good wake-up slap."

Ivern chuckled as Nidalee just sat and stared. She didn't want to hope for the best because all of the evidence showed that he's dead. But she couldn't help herself. Ivern seemed so sure. Perhaps... Maybe, just maybe, there is a chance.

* * *

"In the meantime though, we need to dispose of _that_ thing." He said looking over to the giant flower on the ground. He left Nidalee sitting beside Rengar as he walked over to Zyra who was examining her plant.

"Do you know what it is?" asked Ivern.

"I'm pretty sure the orb contains a cloud of poison, the same one that killed the cougars. It seems to be leaking out of your barrier. My plant tells me that the poison slowly withers all life it touches." Answered Zyra with a look of concern on her face.

"Can you identify the poison?"

"It originates from the Ajunta poison, but there's something else… It's enhancing the effects."

Ivern pondered for a second, wondering how best to deal with this, when suddenly the flower pulsed. Ivern and Zyra both took a step back in surprise as they stared at the flower.

"I think… whatever's inside just exploded." Said Zyra tentatively.

True enough, seconds later, the petals on the flower started turning brown from its original vibrant pink and began to wither. Puffs of yellow began to leak out causing the two to take a further step backwards.

Ivern inspected the puffs of yellow cloud that came out from a distance. He squinted his eyes until he saw what he was looking for.

"Is that…? Zyra, is it just me or is that Ajunta Poison infused with Death magic?" inquired Ivern.

"It certainly has that aura, but that shouldn't be possible. The only place with that kind of magic is in the Shadow Isles, it couldn't possibly be here."

"Perhaps, whatever abducted and possessed Teemo came from the Shadow Isles?" suggested Ivern.

"Possible. But why would the Shadow Isles want to take this Jungle?" asked Zyra.

"Who knows… Whatever the reason, we have to find a way to remove it." Urged Ivern, frowning.

"Well If it came from the Shadow Isles, I believe I have just the solution." Grinned Zyra.

Ivern watched her curiously as she crouched and summoned a small flower. As the petals opened it revealed a small vial containing a clear sparkling liquid. She grabbed the vial and showed Ivern, with a grin. Ivern just stared at her as if waiting for an explanation.

"Years ago, I met a nature spirit in the Plague Jungles. He told me he was travelling the continent to visit all of the forests and jungles to help prevent something that happened to his homeland. In each place, he left a little gift. When I told him, that I was from the Kumungu, he gave me this vial and told me to use it if and when the contamination of the Shadow Isles reaches here. I didn't know what he meant but I suppose now is as good a time as any."

Ivern nodded and watched as she poured the contents of the vial into the ground. From newly wetted ground, she grew another flower, larger enough to swallow the emerging cloud of poison whole. She grew the stalk out and from the stalk several leaves grew and began to absorb any puffs of the poison that escaped into the air.

They watched in anticipation, in case it didn't work, but the flower stayed strong. No signs of wilting, and the flower bulb was getting smaller. It seemed to be absorbing the poison, without much consequence.

"It worked!" exclaimed Ivern. "What was in that vial?"

"The nature spirit said that it was called the Tears of Life. I have no idea what was actually in it though." Replied Zyra, feeling a lot more relaxed.

"I'll have to thank the spirit thoroughly if I ever meet him. What was his name?"

"Maokai."

* * *

 _A young Rengar wiped his tears on the back of his hands as he was pulled into a warm embrace. The man in front of him patted his head and spoke in a soft soothing voice._

 _"Shhhh, it's okay Rengo, it was just a nightmare. Nothing more. I'm here now."_

 _"Da- Dad? There was a terrible monster, i-it grabbed you and it t-took you away and then it grabbed me and then… it a-ate me an-and…" he sniffled as he recounted his dream._

 _"Stop now, it was just a bad dream. No monster will ever take me away from you. No monster can. I will always be with you, I promise." Pulling out of the hug, he looked right into Rengar's eyes, as he made his promise._

 _"O-okay…" The young Rengar closed his eyes once again as he nestled into his father's embrace._

* * *

Rengar's eyes opened slowly as his dream ended.

 _I guess even he couldn't keep that promise…_

There was darkness all around. Nothing could be seen. Rengar was kneeling and his arms were held up on either side of him. There were purple ethereal chains wrapped around his limbs, keeping them in place. The chains disappeared into the darkness as if there was a wall behind him. His body was limp against the chains as his head sagged into his chest. He felt incredibly weak, lacking even the energy to lift his head. He could barely keep his eyes open and was just about to close them when a familiar voice sounded from in front of him.

"You can do better than that!"

Rengar's eyes opened once again as he felt the man pat his head.

 _Who…?_

The man grabbed the chains and with a tight squeeze, the chains all shattered and dissipated into countless flecks of light that dispersed into the darkness. Freed from the chains, Rengar fell forward, lacking the energy to stay upright. He'd have collapsed face first, had there not been an arm wrapped around his chest, supporting him. The other arm wrapped around his back and he was in an all too painfully familiar hug.

"Father…?" He croaked weakly.

"I did promise that I'd always be with you didn't I?" was the response.

Rengar chuckled weakly as tears welled in his eyes. He felt happy, sad and angry all at the same time. There were so many questions he wanted to ask but he couldn't find the energy to ask them all. Instead he asked the only question that could give him an answer.

"How…?"

"I'm not really here. You're talking to my spirit right now. When I was in Ionia, I asked a good friend of mine to seal a fragment of my soul into that Bone Tooth Necklace I gave you. I promised that I would always be with you and I would never make a promise I couldn't keep. Isn't that right my little Rengo?"

Rengar just smiled as he hugged his father back as much as he could. However, that simple movement brought pain to his chest as his vision blurred temporarily. Noticing the grimace, his father released him from the hug and stared at him with sadness in his eyes.

"It's time you go back. It's dangerous to keep you here any longer."

 _No…_

"No… I-" he began but his father interrupted him.

"You've grown so strong. I've watched you grow all these years and I can't put into words how proud I am. This may be the last time we can talk to each other but remember: I love you, I'm so proud of you and I'll always be with you."

As he said that, he placed his palm on Rengar's chest. There was a faint glow as suddenly the last chain shimmered into existence. It extended all the way into Rengar's chest and as the man grabbed the chain and squeezed, it too shattered and faded from existence.

He lowered Rengar down and stood up as Rengar lay on his back. The blackness all around was lighting up gradually until it was all white. As the surrounding kept brightening, it soon became hard for Rengar to see his father, but he wasn't sad. He felt reassured. His father would always be there with him.

Just before everything faded to white, he heard his father speak up once last time.

"Oh, and take care of that nice young lady you got yourself. Don't be a hermit like me."

Rengar heard his father's chuckle fade as everything turned a blinding white.

* * *

Nidalee wrapped her arms around her knees when she brought them up to her chest. She was rocking back and forth waiting for something, anything. She had calmed down considerably but she was still wallowing in her anguish and guilt. She was faintly aware of a commotion behind her, but she didn't pay it any attention. She was just staring at Rengar.

Now that she's calmed down, she found that what Ivern said was true. That Bone Tooth Necklace was indeed glowing and the magic infused in it was beautiful. Ivern had called it Spirit Magic, but Nidalee wasn't sure what that meant. She just saw the necklace glowing a faint beautiful white. For all intents and purposes, it was glowed a faint white light. However, to Nidalee, it was much deeper than that. She felt a strange attraction towards the glow and she couldn't stop staring at it.

She was so lost in thought, that fell backwards when suddenly the necklace flared with a brilliant white light. She scuttled back a bit with her arms behind her supporting her weight. As the white light shone, it revealed the purple chain that she saw before, which promptly shattered. She didn't realise she was holding her breath when she watched the chain in Rengar's chest shatter or even when the white light began to dim and fade. She only sucked in a breath when she heard the faintest sounds of breathing in front of her. She stared in disbelief as Rengar's chest began to rise and fall ever so slightly. She had to rub her eyes and blink repeatedly to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.

Ivern and Zyra watched from afar, already aware that Rengar's body once again had life.

"Let's leave the youngsters to their devices." Suggested Ivern as the two walked away, smiling.

As Nidalee watched, Rengar's eyes slowly opened. She still sat there, jaw hanging open slightly, eyes wide and still as a statue. Rengar groaned and mumbled a bit as he sat up slowly while rubbing his head with his free hand. Sitting up he turned and noticed Nidalee sitting there not moving, just staring at him.

"Nidalee? What's wro- oof!" Before Rengar could finish, Nidalee tackled him into a hug, crying. Rengar was stunned, he didn't know why Nidalee was acting this way. But he just moved his hand slowly and tentatively patted her head trying to reassure her,

After a long while of her crying, she released Rengar and asked, "But… how? I watched you die…"

 _So I really did die huh._

"My father had part of his soul sealed within this Bone Tooth Necklace. I guess that magic was stronger than whatever magic the witch used." He said with a reassuring smile.

Nidalee finally realised what Ivern meant when he was reassuring her earlier. She hugged Rengar again and they sat like that for a long while.

"…I'm sorry." Whispered Nidalee.

"Hm? For what?" inquired Rengar. He was genuinely confused at what Nidalee was apologising for.

"It was all my fault… If you hadn't needed to save me…"

"You have nothing to be sorry for. Just promise me one thing though. Don't ever give up like that again. Okay?"

Nidalee stared into his unwaveringly sincere stare as she nodded. "I promise." She said, and Rengar relaxed as he hugged her back.

After a while, Nidalee stood up and Rengar followed suit. She had a very sad look in her eyes, one of longing and regret as she spoke in a very quiet voice.

"I should… bury the… dead." It was painful to say the last word, as part of her still blamed herself for not being able to protect them. She walked slowly over to her den and Rengar followed close behind. He wanted to be there for her, now more than ever as he remembered this father's last words to him and chuckled silently.

 _You cheeky old man_.

A few hours passed and the pair of them finished burying all of the cougars in front of the den. Rengar had an arm around Nidalee as she sobbed silently, leaning into his chest. After standing there for so long, Nidalee finally broke the silence.

"Can I… stay with you tonight? It's too painful to be here right now…" She asked quietly.

"Of course."

* * *

The two made their way back to Rengar's den, and by the time they arrived, the sun had already set and the moon was high in the sky. They didn't go to his hut though, they made their way to the stream. Rengar led her to his favourite spot, where he would normally meditate, and upon arriving, they sat down. It was a beautiful night, the air was fresh, the moon was bright, and the moon's reflection in the glistening stream was mesmerizing. All that could be heard was the sound of running water and the occasional rustling of leaves as a breeze blew by.

They sat staring at the stream in silence for a good few minutes. Nidalee rested her head on Rengar's shoulder as she stared at the moon in the water.

 _The moon huh?_

"Yes." Said Rengar suddenly.

"Yes what?" asked Nidalee, wondering what was going on.

"Yes, I will go to the Blood Moon Festival with you." He spoke simply. He watched the rippling reflection of the moon as Nidalee just stared at him.

This was honestly the best thing that she had heard all day. It was enough to distract her from her sorrow and replace it with joy. As such, she tackled him with a hug again and the force caught him off guard. They both fell back as he lay down with Nidalee's head resting on his chest. He simply stroked her hair as they both enjoyed each other's presence.

 _Together._

* * *

A few hours later, Nidalee fell asleep on Rengar, and feeling tired himself, he gingerly stood up whilst trying not to wake her up. He lifted her up, maiden-style, with his arms around her shoulders and behind her knees. He carried her all the way back to his den and placed her on his bed and covered her with the sheets. He was about to crawl into bed as well when he noticed a piece of white on his table. Walking over he noticed that it was actually a piece of paper with an envelope beneath. Picking it up he read what the paper said.

 _Your father asked that I give you this letter when you have found something (or someone) to live for, other than hunting. I do not know the contents of the letter, but my advice is: try not to die, or almost die, again. Also, should you need to know for whatever reason, the Blood Moon Festival next year is the first full moon after the Spring Equinox._

 _~ Ivern_

Rengar just chuckled as he set it down and picked up the envelope. He took out the contents and unfolded the piece of paper carefully, and read.

* * *

 _My son,_

 _If you are reading this, then I am most likely gone. I asked Ivern to watch over you as you grow up in case I left you too soon, and I am truly sorry if that came to pass. Don't feel you owe him anything, after all I did basically name him your Godfather._

 _I guess you must have a lot of questions about my death or disappearance, and I'm sorry that I can't answer those questions. However, there is someone who can. He lives in the forests outside of the city of Ionia. Seek him out if you wish to have these questions answered._

 _I asked Ivern to only give you this letter if you have something other than hunting in your life. In the hopes that that something can ground you so you don't become consumed by rage or vengeance, I ask that you go to Ionia some time and finish my work. A word of warning for when you do however… Beware the Blood Moon._

 _Hopefully I'll have made good on my promise and a part of me lives within the Bone Tooth Necklace which should be around your neck right now. If you didn't know before… well, I had a part of my soul sealed inside the necklace, so I would always be with you and watch you grow. Please don't feel as though I abandoned you, know that I will always love you and I will always be proud. I'm sorry for pushing my incomplete work onto you, but hopefully, once you finish it, you can live a good, content life._

 _Love, the only hunter better than you~_

 _P.S. You should find a good woman to share your life with. Don't be a hermit!_

* * *

 _He's irritating even when he's not here…_

"Love you too dad." Rengar whispered with a chuckle. He folded the letter back and tucked it in one of the few books he had in the house.

He lay down happily next to Nidalee, and drifted off to sleep. For the first time in a long time, he felt at peace and content, now that he had someone to care for.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's a wrap! This story is now complete, but if you haven't realised already, there will a sequel which will take place primarily in Ionia. I would like to thank everybody who followed this story till the end and also thank everyone who reviewed and favourited! You guys are awesome! Now I've already got ideas for how the next story will go down, but there is an impending doom, uh I mean, lots of school work about to come my way. So if I find time, I'll begin writing shortly, however I may need to wait until after exams. Hopefully won't be too long! :D**

 **Until then, I'm off to put out more fires! ~ _Ciao~_**


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